Jesus Christ himself said, “a prophet is not without honour except in his hometown”. Paradoxically I don’t really know if the statement suits the immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
in relation to his reverence by the people of his home state Bayelsa. Just this morning, news has it that the former number one man of Nigeria has part of support to ameliorates the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ebonyi State, had donyated bags of rice and other foodstuffs to the people of Ebonyi State.
Without further ado, during a phone-in radio program in Bayelsa State held in the last hours of the morning of today; Bayelsans called in to register their displeasure with the former President, for neglecting and abandoning his people in Bayelsa State who are equally suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to incessant lockdown order, inviting hunger and starvation to reign supreme in the state.
This is not the first time Bayelsans have thrown blinding jabs at the jaws of the Former President over his nonchalant attitude when it comes to the things that concerns Bayelsa and Bayelsans. During his reign as President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan came under severe criticism from Bayelsans for not developing the States but busy developing other part of the country. The sneers turned to jeering when the former President left office as President of Nigeria on the 29th of May 2015 and returned to Bayelsa State as customs demand, but what he met on ground in terms of infrastructural development in Bayelsa State saw himself being booed sarcastically by all and sundry that came that day to welcome him home.
What makes the silent booing to turn to audible jeering, was when his Entourage set sail to his hometown of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The roads were fraught with deathtraps and dusty lanes. Both guest and hosts cocked their heads in shame asking the same question “but he develop other towns, why is his own not develop, not even well tarred road to his town; what an Ijaw Messiah?” They reasoned.
The onus of their anger with their respected leader, lies in his cold, calm and indifferent nature compared to the boisterous and aggrandizing mien of a typical Ijaw man. Many Bayelsans believe God’s grace brought him this far hence, he is not a politician but a scholar whose foray into politics was almost a divinely arranged occurrence.
If asked, who brought underdevelopment to Bayelsa State, many would chorus, “Goodluck Jonathan!!!” Why because he was a former President of Nigeria with little to show in Bayelsa State, that a son of the state was once a President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria exception of the Federal University which he sited in his hometown of Otuoke, in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Many pundits in Bayelsa State are believing that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan would have issued an Executive Order that would have seen the NLNG gas project taking off in Brass together with the construction of an international seaport which should have been located in any part of the State that bordered the Atlantic Ocean. That move would have been a job generating hub for many employed youths of the State and Nigerians in general.
The list goes on and on but the deed has been done, and as a matter of fact Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has made his mark as a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it left for those who felt dissatisfied with his administration, to go and eat their yams and see if the oil won’t stain their fingers.