According to former President Goodluck Jonathan, if Governor Duoye Diri had lost the governorship race that was held over the weekend, he would have relocated his mother out of Bayelsa State.

 

On Friday, November 17, Jonathan, who visited Diri in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, to offer congratulations, stated that if Diri had lost, the level of insecurity would have increased.

He said;

 

“We don’t want to go into unnecessary crisis in the state. Results have been declared and we believe the election was conducted. We believe the governor won the election and we plead that people should accept it and work with the governor. Let all of us support him so that the state will move ahead.

“There should be nothing that will push the state backwards. We should think about the development of the state starting from the issue of peace and security in the state which within this last period, three years plus, there are significant improvements in terms of cultism and kidnapping and so on and so forth.

“I was saying before this election that if Diri loses this election, I would have relocated my mother to Abuja. My cousin was kidnapped two times on one of those occasions, one of my cousins, Solo, was killed because they threw him into the river and he didn’t know how to swim.

“So, we’ve passed through hell in this state and we’ve seen a little light at the end of the tunnel. So, people should calm down, and allow Diri to focus on governance so that he will be able to propel this state forward so that we will benefit as citizens of the state.”