Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha did not know Dr Goodluck Jonathan until 1998 when the former was gunning for the office of governor of Bayelsa State and an elder statesman suggested he picked him as his deputy. Today he is glad he did. Like John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the former governor admits somebody had to open the way.
Do you now counsel President Goodluck Jonathan, who was your former deputy?
It will be rude of me to say I counsel the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am a realist. Yes, yesterday I could tell Goodluck Ebele Jonathan sit down here; do this or do that; don’t do this or don’t do that; or as a younger brother let’s sit down and discuss this matter; let’s put heads together and if he comes out with better reasoning or superior argument I take it from him. But things have changed and this is how life is. Today he is my boss and if people like me don’t respect him, who else will respect him. The best I can do now is to put him in prayers that his presidency should come out as one of the best this country ever had. People should remember him as a president who came and lifted the wellbeing and aspirations of the people.
Also, when you are in office, experience has shown that not everybody that has access to you comes with ideas to move the nation forward. Power belongs to the people is clearly in our Constitution. But majority of the people don’t have access to you. So those of us that are outside and have our ears to the ground can whisper to him that this is what people are saying and that what your appointees tell you is not the truth. If you can get up from your backside and walk, you will get a fair appreciation of what I am reporting. After all, the whole duty of governance is to improve the wellbeing of the citizenry and protect and preserve security of life and property that is the whole essence of governance.
How did you meet Jonathan and what qualities did you see that make you pick him as your deputy?
In 1998, in the process of my campaign to become governor of Bayelsa State, I came across a respected man from the President’s local government in the name of Justice Egonwari that was more or less a father figure in that area. He was once a politician so he understood what politics was all about even though he was a serving judge. It was my decision to pick my deputy as provided for in the Constitution, so when I consulted Justice Egonwari he advised me to narrow it to Goodluck Jonathan. I did not know him then.
He attended some of our political meetings and I saw in him somebody that can be developed to be a leader. I prayed over it because I never wanted a deputy that will give me problem. I presented the matter to God and so when Justice Egonwari recommended him, it clicked as if my eyes were open. So I asked few persons where he was staying and they gave me the address. So I drove alongside one Gordon Bozimo, who was one of the elders of our party, to his house. We drove to Goodluck’s house. I could call him Goodluck then but not now o!
We went to his very humble home in the OMPADEC quarters where he was working as assistant director and requested him to join me to INEC to fill the necessary forms and run with me as deputy governor. One of the conditions was that he must resign from his job. I had no problem with him accepting but when you are in a place receiving your daily bread and somebody says you should resign and come to an area that you are not even sure, it was not so easy. Mind you, there had been political instability, with parties such as the UNCP and others proscribed. So there was this uncertainty but he took the bull by the horns. I don’t know what also fired him and that is why I say it is destiny. But somebody had to open it up; somebody had to be used as an instrument. If he had not been picked, he would have been just like any other person.
via@TransparencyNG