Jonathan under fire over comment on mother’s relocation

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has come under heavy criticism in Bayelsa, his home state, following his comment that he would have relocated his mother to Abuja if the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won the just-concluded gubernatorial election in the state.

Jonathan, who raised concerns over security issues that would have ensued in the state had Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed to win the poll, reportedly made the statement when he paid a congratulatory visit to the governor.

But reacting, the candidate of the APC in the election, Timipre Sylva, said the statement credited to the former president was “unfortunate”, adding that he “sincerely” hoped that Jonathan was misquoted.

“Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement is unfortunate. I sincerely hope he was misquoted. Let me just quote our respected Wole Soyinka: ‘You can take the hippopotamus out of the swamp but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus,” he wrote in his post on Instagram and X.

• Climate change: Yobe to plant 40m trees in 5 years
• Why govt alone can’t develop any nation— Lagos dep gov

Also, the elders’ council of the APC while strongly condemning the comment in a statement by its secretary, Clarkson Ayebaepreye, on Sunday, wondered the extent to which Jonathan, could go “in satisfying his paymaster, who ordinarily should be his subordinate.”

They said though Jonathan continued to move about with the tag of elder statesman, he remained neck-deep in partisan politics.