How Jonathan Influenced My Political Journey - Diri

Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has disclosed how former Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s political calculations influenced his political journey to the National Assembly and eventually his present office.

Speaking on Thursday at a service of songs in honour of late Madam Ani-Gunn Rhoda Ikiogha, mother of a former Chief of Staff, Government House, and Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, in Yenagoa, also attended by Dr. Jonathan and his wife, Governor Diri recounted how the former president’s decision altered his political ambition at some point but became a blessing in disguise.

He stated that Dr. Ikiogha and himself had been political sons of Jonathan even before he became president and worked together until their political interests failed to align. 

He said: “I have come a long way with Chief Ikiogha. We worked together at some point when he was Chief of Staff, Government House and I was Deputy Chief of Staff. We have been in politics over this period mostly working together." 

“But there was a time he left me because we had a conflict of interest. We were very clear on what we wanted, and then our leader was in Abuja as president. So we plotted our political graph with the former governor, Senator Dickson, who was our boss here." 

“We agreed that I should go to the Senate and Chief Ikiogha to the House of Reps. We even bought our party’s nomination forms. But we knew that our boss in Abuja will have his own agenda, which we cannot stop and can only collapse ours into his plan." 

"Eventually the former president came with his agenda and it consumed all of us. We had agenda number two and that was when my friend, Ikiogha, disagreed with me and for the very first time we parted ways." 

"That agenda was what paved the way for me to be elected as a member of the House of Reps (in 2015) by virtue of the Senate position being zoned to Yenagoa, and Ikiogha could not get the ticket.“

Diri however noted that Ikiogha contributed greatly to his re-election in 2023 to the point of being a target of the opposition, who attacked his residence because he left their camp to work for him." 

He stressed that in all that transpired, the late Ma Ikiogha was a rallying point for her son and his political associates, including those in the opposition, noting that she was always accommodating. 

He urged the family to take solace in the fact that she left glowing legacies as a devoted Christian and that her life was being celebrated for touching lives in different ways. 

In his tribute, Dr. Jonathan said the late nonagenarian was a mother to him and others that were close to her son.

He recalled that when Bayelsa was first created, she accommodated many who usually traveled from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa in her home. 

Jonathan described her as a kind and generous woman, who received him and his close associate, King Amalate Turner, like her blood relations and that she lived such exemplary life until her last days on earth. 

The former president equally recounted how after losing the presidential election in 2015, she was so saddened by the outcome that she starved herself of food for days.

He thanked God for sparing her life till the age of 91, adding that her little contribution to society will last the test of time. 

In a sermon titled: “And She Died,” a cleric with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Amos Tubogbo, said in life, one might have the impression of living right but was not so in the sight of God. 

Pastor Tubogbo noted that except an individual lives according to the word of God, he or she will not be justified in the end. 

The chief mourner, Dr. Ikiogha, appreciated those that identified with his family in their moment of grief, particularly the former president, his family, the state government for its support as well as the RCCG family. 

He said his mother was being buried according to her wish to have a church crusade organised in her honour at the Kpansia Primary School field in Yenagoa. 

Dignitaries at the service of songs included the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere, King Amalate Turner, member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Remi Kuku, Chief of Staff, Government House, Dr. Peter Akpe, state chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Rev. Tam Seth Eyedoude, and other top government functionaries.

Daniel Alabrah

Chief Press Secretary to Governor, Bayelsa State