How Long Can You Go In Satisfying Your Paymasters? – APC Elders Knock Jonathan Over Mother’s Relocation Comment

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders Council in Bayelsa State, has berated former President Goodluck Jonathan, over his comment on the outcome of the November 11, 2023, governorship polls in the state.

Naija News recalls that the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Douye Diri, was declared the winner of the off-cycle election after he scored 175,196 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Timipre Sylva of the APC.

Jonathan, who raised concern over security issues that would have rocked the state if Governor Diri had not been reelected, said he would have relocated his mother to Abuja.

However, in a statement signed by its secretary, Clarkson Ayebaepreye, the APC elders council condemned the comment, describing the former President as someone battling political midlife crises.

It wondered how Jonathan could go in satisfying his alleged paymasters, who ordinarily should be his subordinates, stressing that no former president has reduced himself to such a standard.

The APC elders argued that residents of Bayelsa have been in economic and physical violence in the last three years of the PDP government when Jonathan’s uncle was kidnapped and gunmen attacked his house.

The opposition elders said Jonathan should stop aiding and abetting violence and incompetence in the state just to advance his confusing political ambition.

The statement read, “We do not know how low Jonathan can still go in his quest to satisfy his paymasters which, sadly, as a former President, were to rightly be his subordinates. Every now and then he is at Creek Haven (Bayelsa Government House) jotting orders from Diri. No former President has reduced himself to such standards.

“On the issue of violence, Jonathan remembers things differently. Bayelsans have faced both physical and economic violence in the state than at any other time during the last three years. It’s in the news, that we the APC campaigned under a hail of violence.

“Was APC in power when he, Jonathan’s uncle, was kidnapped? Was APC or Sylva in power when his house at Otuoke was attacked by gunmen? Was APC and Sylva in power when his convoy was attacked? Was APC and Sylva in power when his kinsman, Mike Ogiasa, was kidnapped and dehumanized?

 “Jonathan cannot keep aiding and abetting violence and incompetence just to forward his confusing political ambitions. The only part of his politics that is clear is his personal hatred for the APC, a rookie party that upstaged him in 2015 as President.

“He should stop going around with the tag of a statesman, he is clearly neck-deep in politics. We have not forgotten that he supported Peter Obi over President Tinubu of the APC in the last presidential elections and just days to the Bayelsa State gubernatorial elections, he was hurriedly packaged to openly endorse Governor Diri and the PDP.

“Everyone is aware of his PDP by day, and APC by night politics to the extent he almost nominated the Minister from Bayelsa State, a move which failed at the final moments. If you remember our group did a press statement to that effect.”

“Jonathan should respect the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most exalted office in our country which he has held. Some of his desperate political moves and alignments are below expectations, especially being used as a puppet by a state governor.”