Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has confessed how he paid the sum of $10,000 to Marabouts contracted from Kenya on his behalf, to perform rituals to facilitate his emergence as Governor.
He made the open confession on Friday, January 17, 2025, at the KOLGA (Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area) Annual Day of Thanksgiving held in Sampou, his community.
The Governor however said he finally rejected the ritual, adding that his absolute faith in God earned him the sobriquet ‘Miracle Governor.’
Daily Trust reported that the Governor further 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.
It would be recalled that the Diri who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 off-cycle governorship election in the State, lost to the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon.
He later challenged the the electoral umpire, INEC’s, 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.
Daily Trust
