Governor of Bayelsa State has said that Ex-President Jonathan is now an IDP as water takes over his residence.
Newsonline reports that following the flood Bayelsa State, the entire Otuoke community Ogbia local government area, the hometown of former President Jonathan Goodluck’s hometown, has been submerged in flood.
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The governor of Bayelsa, Douye Diri, who lamented the extent of damage done by the flood crisis in many parts of the state, described it as an “attack by natural disaster” on the livelihood of Bayelsans.
He stressed that Otuoke, which is the host community of a Federal University, had been submerged and most of the locals displaced, including Jonathan, who has become an Internally Displaced Person, IDP.
The governor urged the people not to despair, even in the trying times, assuring them that the state government had put in place machinery to provide relief materials and medical assistance to victims of the flood.
He said: “As we have seen in other local government areas in the state, we have come to Ogbia and parts of Southern Ijaw today. I had been to Ayama-Ijaw and Azikoro community in Yenagoa, which is also badly hit.
“Now I am in Ogbia, precisely at the residence of the former president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. You can see the degree of destruction here in Otuoke. The water current is as if there is a river here.
“To our citizens, particularly in Ogbia local government, I came to see things for myself in Otuoke and to bring you hope. I came to also let you know that you are not alone in this trying times that we are all going through in our state.
“We have put in place machinery that is going round the state in terms of relief materials and medicines. The Ministry of Health is fully mobilized for that and I am sure they will be here in no distant time.
“Let me also use this opportunity to empathize with my leader, the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who has joined me as one of the IDPs because I was one of the first victims in my community.”
Diri again solicited the help of well-meaning Bayelsans, corporate organisations and the federal government to enable the state overcome the present unfortunate situation.
He also visited the former president’s mother, Madam Eunice Jonathan, in the community and assured her that the state government was with her and the people of Otuoke.
Meanwhile, the Federal government, on Thursday, said it will not declare a state of emergency on the ravaging flooding in some parts of the country because it is not overwhelmed by the incidents yet.
The recent floods have displaced more than a million persons from their homes, over 600 lives lost and properties worth billions destroyed. Some of the government’s infrastructural facilities were also affected by this unprecedented development.
Some of the most affected states include Kogi, Anambra, Rivers, Benue, Yobe, Delta, Cross River and Bayelsa
