THE NATION
A former Niger Delta freedom fighter, Pastor Reuben Wilson, has faulted former President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent comments against the former Minister of Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Wilson said in a statement on Monday that it was wrong for Jonathan to have said that he would have relocated his mother from Bayelsa State if the former Minister had won the recent governorship election.
He urged the former President to conduct himself as an elder statesman in the politics of the State, rather than supporting a particular candidate or party.
Wilson, who was the Southern Ijaw local government coordinator of the APC Bayelsa gubernatorial campaign council, stated these in a statement on Monday, where he asked Jonathan to allow Sylva to breathe by not fighting him and Bayelsa APC.
The South-South Coordinator of the Asiwaju Group, TAG, and Founder, Pastor Reuben Initiative For Good Leadership and Accountability, warned APC members in the State to beware of the new found romance between Jonathan and the leaders of the party.
Wilson also faulted the recent visit of the ex-President to the APC National Chairman, which he said was interpreted by many as a ploy to negatively influence the party leadership against Sylva.
He wondered why Jonathan had to visit the party leadership in such a time he described as critical, when the APC had just been allegedly robbed of its victory at the governorship election in Bayelsa.
The ex-warlord also asked Jonathan to desist from allegedly trying to influence the courts to secure a favourable outcome for Diri in the just concluded Bayelsa gubernatorial election, insisting that the APC will reclaim her supposed stolen mandate via the courts.
“He is a highly revered elder statesman and should therefore, confine himself strictly to that enviable role and status. He should guide his utterances and actions as such. He should treat all political actors in the state as part of his political family and stop politicking for any particular candidate or party.
“The recent utterances and actions of Dr Goodluck Jonathan are not palatable. Such utterances are distasteful and provocative; and shouldn’t be coming from a person of the status of the former President.
“Dr Goodluck Jonathan demonstrated the highest level of statesmanship when he conceded defeat to former President Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and he got applause from political leaders across the globe.
“We were all proud of his level of statesmanship and expected him to continue in that light to attract development to our dear state but unfortunately, he has derailed from that enviable height and earned himself the wrath of every public-spirited and patriotic Bayelsian who had hitherto loved him dearly
