Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said he declined an offer from a senior citizen to perform some rituals if he wanted to become governor.
Speaking during the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area Annual Day of Thanksgiving held in Sampou, his community, the governor disclosed how the senior citizen brought some marabouts from Senegal to Abuja to perform the rituals but he declined.
He had challenged the declaration of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a candidate in the 2019 governorship poll as the winner and the matter was pending at the Supreme Court at the time.
Diri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said the senior citizen flew in some marabouts from Senegal to perform the rituals. After declining, 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.
Dirir explained that his 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.
His words:”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. Some time 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 would 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 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. 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.”
