The Bayelsa State Governor Duoye Diru has described former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as an internally-displaced person (IDP) in his hometown, Otuoke, following the raging flood that has overrun the state and other parts of the country.
Speaking to newsmen when he visited the community on Friday, Governor Duoye Diri lamented the degree of destruction caused by what he described as an “attack by natural disaster” on the livelihood of Bayelsans.
He stressed that Otuoke, which is the host community of a Federal University, had been submerged and most of the locals displaced, including Dr. Jonathan.
The governor urged the people not to despair, even in the trying times, assuring them that the state government had put in place machinery to provide relief materials and medical assistance to victims of the flood.
He said: “As we have seen in other local government areas in the state, we have come to Ogbia and parts of Southern Ijaw today. I had been to Ayama-Ijaw and Azikoro community in Yenagoa, which is also badly hit.
“Now I am in Ogbia, precisely at the residence of the former president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. You can see the degree of destruction here in Otuoke. The water current is as if there is a river here.
“This is what I have been saying. Bayelsa is under attack of natural disaster. The whole premises of our former president and the community is under attack. And this is where you also have the federal university. This situation makes the former president an IDP.
“To our citizens, particularly in Ogbia local government, I came to see things for myself in Otuoke and to bring you hope. I came to also let you know that you are not alone in this trying time that we are all going through in our state.
“We have put in place machinery that is going round the state in terms of relief materials and medicines. The Ministry of Health is fully mobilized for that and I am sure they will be here in no distant time.
“Let me also use this opportunity to empathize with my leader, the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who has joined me as one of the IDPs because I was one of the first victims in my community.”
Diri again solicited the help of well-meaning Bayelsans, corporate organisations and the federal government to enable the state overcome the present unfortunate situation.
He also visited the former president’s mother, Madam Eunice Jonathan, in the community and assured her that the state government was with her and the people of Otuoke.
