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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended the strides of Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri in maintaining peace in the state.
Obasanjo who spoke in Yenagoa Thursday, where he was guest of honour at the 12th edition of the state’s annual thanksgiving attributed the peaceful atmosphere of the state to the peaceful disposition of Diri.
He noted that if other states of the federation emulated the leadership style of Diri Nigeria would be a peaceful place to live.
He stated that former governor Henry Seriake Dickson, who handed over to Diri laid a good heritage for Diri to follow, and urged him not to stray from the path.
He said, “What I am seeing here is better than what I expected. You have peace here compared to other parts of the country. Comparatively, you have peace here than in other states in this country. If what is happening here is replicated in all other state of Nigeria then we will say that we have a good country. You have security, security without peace is no security, here you have peace, security and stability.
“Good people of Bayelsa you have a good heritage.You are good people who respect God, serve humanity and serve God. I am glad to be here with you and any other time you ask me to be here, I will always be here.
Former governor Dickson in his remarks expressed delight at the 12th anniversary of the annual thanksgiving.
He said, “In 2019, when we started the succession transition, the election was tough but the transition was something else. It is only when you have done it that you can say you have some experience. I used to tell my colleagues, if you go for an election and the election is though and you win, you would become a GOC.
“When you win with your house and your state intact as we witnessed, you will be qualified to call yourself a General. After this event, I will be joining our governor and father to commission senatorial road.”
Diri commended the people of the state for the enduring peace and security, and noted that the peace in the state is due to the good nature of the people.
He said that essence of leadership is to bring happiness to the people, which is what he has done.
He said “ I want to thank Bayelsans that today there is peace and security and it is because Bayelsans are good people and they want peace and security.
“We cannot go back to Egypt, we cannot go back to the days of Famutangbe. So the essence of government is to bring happiness to the people and today we are all happy here that God gave grace to a man to build this edifice and now we have added value with the dual carriage way that we drove through to get to this place”, he said.
