Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has firmly defended his recent visit to President Bola Tinubu, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the presidential election.
The video of Governor Diri extending congratulations to President Tinubu after the Supreme Court upheld his election win emerged recently. However, Governor Diri has asserted that his visit was entirely routine and not to be misconstrued as there was nothing unusual about it.
Governor Diri said he owes nobody any explanation for visiting President Bola Tinubu. He asserted that the opposition was jittery and telling lies over his visit to Tinubu shortly after the Supreme Court declared him winner of the election.
He spoke at Igbedi community, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state, during the visit of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship campaign trail on Friday.
Governor Diri said he was at liberty to congratulate President Tinubu following the Supreme Court verdict on the presidential election.
He explained that he was at the presidential villa to discuss serious state matters with the president, whom he said attended to the issues positively.
He said: “Thursday, I was in Abuja and most of you saw the video trending. The opposition is now jittery and are telling lies. Of course, that is in their character.
“As a sitting governor, there is a sitting president and I do not owe them any explanation about my visit to the president.
“If the Supreme Court affirms the president of the country, as a sitting governor, I reserve all the rights to visit him. But beyond that, I went for very serious state business and I can tell you that Mr President attended to all the issues I raised.”