Jonathan: I owe nobody apologies for supporting Diri’s re-election

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he owes nobody apologies for supporting the re-election of Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, in the November 2023 off-cycle poll.

Jonathan spoke on Tuesday when he received a delegation led by Diri at his residence in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa.

On November 13, Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the off-cycle governorship election after he scored 175,196 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Timipre Sylva.

Sylva, who was candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 110,108 votes.

Jonathan said Diri deserved a second term in office because of his efforts towards improving the security of the state.

The former president said since Diri became governor, the activities of cult groups in Bayelsa have reduced.

“I did what l did during the governorship election and l have no apologies to anybody because l know that the governor and his team were doing very well, especially in the area of peace and stability of the state,” he said.

“At a time, l became very worried. I have not said others did not do well. After all, l was also governor for a little less than one and a half years and also had my challenges.

“Since Diri came on board, the excesses of cult groups, particularly in Yenagoa, has reduced reasonably.

“If we must move forward, we must handle the issue of security in order to attract investors.

“I saw that the governor and his team have a vision and he needed to be encouraged to do another four-year term.”

On his part, Diri commended Jonathan for endorsing him for a second term in office.

“Your endorsement of a sitting governor was more than billions of naira. And so having secured that endorsement, we were very sure of victory,” Diri said.

“With the kind of peace and security we have in our state, Bayelsa is ready for private investors to come in.”

Jonathan was the deputy governor of Bayelsa from 1999 to 2005 and he served as the governor from 2005 to 2007.

JONATHAN VERSUS SYLVA

After Diri was declared winner of the November 11 election, Jonathan said he would have relocated his mother to Abuja, the nation’s capital city, if the governor had not been re-elected.

The former president had said cultism and kidnapping have been reduced from the “suffocating level they used to be” during the administration of Sylva.

Reacting, Sylva said the remarks of the former president were “unfortunate”, adding that he “sincerely” hoped that Jonathan was misquoted.

“Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement is unfortunate,” Sylva had said.

“I sincerely hope he was misquoted. Let me just quote our respected Wole Soyinka: “you can take the hippopotamus out of the swamp but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus.”

Sylva was the governor of Bayelsa from 2008 to 2012.