Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has revealed how he paid the sum of $10,000 to marabouts from Kenya contracted on his behalf to spiritually facilitate his emergence as governor.
He however said he rejected the ritual.
Diri, while speaking during the KOLGA (Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area) Annual Day of Thanksgiving held in Sampou, his community on Friday, said his absolute faith in God earned him the sobriquet ‘Miracle Governor.’
The governor also narrated how in 2020, a senior citizen invited him to Abuja and advised him to perform certain rituals if he wanted to be governor and how he turned down the offer.
Diri, a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 off-cycle governorship election in the state, had lost to the then candidate of th All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon, but he challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaration of Lyon as the winner and eventually won at the Supreme Court.
Governor Diri’s spokesman, Daniel Alabrah in a statement on Saturday, quoted him as telling the crowd at the gathering that the senior citizen flew in some marabouts from Senegal to perform the rituals when the matter was still pending at the Supreme Court but he bluntly rejected the offer.
He said the man demanded a refund of the money spent to transport them into the country and he had to pay him the sum of $10,000.
He explained that his unshaken faith in God made him decline the advice to look elsewhere for help, saying God, against all the odds, proved that He is always faithful.
He emphasised the need for politicians to learn from his experience and put their trust in God rather than in man.
He stated that the people of Koluama/Opokuma local government have reasons to be thankful to God given the level of development they have witnessed, and thanked the council for giving the thanksgiving day a legal backing through legislation.
Governor Diri also expressed gratitude to Apostle David Zilly Aggrey, the convener, and those who have sustained the programme.
He said: “I thank God and also thank Apostle David Zilly Aggrey because he started this event. And because his prayers were heard, God made it possible to bring me in and today, it is by law that all Kolokuma/Opokuma people can gather to praise God.
“Let me reveal to you why it is important to thank God and have faith in Him. Sometime ago, a senior citizen of this country invited me to Abuja and asked me to perform certain sacrifices but I declined. I told him my faith in God will not allow me to do it. He got angry and told me I would never become governor.
“He told me that he had spent $10,000 to bring the people for the sacrifice and asked for a refund, which I obliged.
“When the Supreme Court’s pronouncement came, the man was shocked and could not call me. Sadly, he passed on after some time.
“The story I have narrated was witnessed by my deputy and a friend in Abuja as both of them accompanied me to visit the senior citizen.
“Kolokuma/Opokuma people have every reason to thank God. As a state, we do not want anybody to be harmed in the name of politics because we do not know who God has destined for greatness. So I call on all of us in the political game to be very civil and recognise that there is God who rules in the affairs of man.
In his sermon, Apostle David Zilly Aggrey said the younger generation might not understand the reason for the thanksgiving as they did not experience the difficulty older ones in the local government faced.
He said Bayelsa was witnessing tremendous development under Diri and thanked the people of the state for giving him the opportunity to serve a second term.
