President Jonathan’s Indirect Rebuke of Delta ‘Patriots’

Whether President Goodluck Jonathan was prompted to rein-in the non-descript group identifying itself as the League of Delta Patriots is definitely out of the question given the integrity and respect that the former Nigeria leader has garnered while in office and even more out of office.

Jonathan has turned into a revered international statesman that it would be impolite to consider him as acting as an emissary of a politician in Delta State.

However, his words at the commissioning of the state of the art High Court complex on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 was perhaps a fitting reply to the League of Delta Patriots which had hours before his arrival published an advertorial describing the one year anniversary of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori as a non-event.

The group had alleged that the governor had no project to commission in the first year and had taken a grip on the finances of the state leading to a state of discord within the ranks of the administration in the state.

So it appeared a matter of irony that within hours of the publication, Jonathan was in Delta State to commission what some describe as about the best High Court complex in Nigeria.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr Jonathan said:

“there are some people who believe that they must bring a government down for the purpose of politics, but when you are struggling to bring a governor or president down for the purpose of politics, you are bringing the state or country down.”

While it remains a matter of guess as to whether President Jonathan was familiar with the publication of the League of Delta Patriots, the former president was, however, on spot to identify with the righteous inclinations of the Delta governor bringing to light the fact that Oborevwori as speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly quietly returned an untilised N500m in the House budget.

As Dr Jonathan said:

“It is not easy for a public officer or even a civil servant to refund money to the government in most cases; it is extremely difficult, but as a Speaker, you were able to do that and that shows that you are somebody of high level of integrity and you can be trusted.”

The act of Nicodemusly returning that hefty amount of money when he as speaker could have pocketed it was one trait in the governor that undoubtedly made the former president to identify his host as a man of integrity.

GWG.ng reports that the revelation by Dr Jonathan put to summary dismissal the insinuations that the governor had hijacked the finances of the state.

However, where the Delta League of Patriots failed to succeed with questioning the integrity quotient of the governor, they, however, kept alluding to the allegation of incompetence.

That assertion was obviously rebuffed by Jonathan with his commendation of the state-of-the-art judiciary complex which he described as among the best in the country.

President Jonathan in rebuffing the assertion of incompetence said:

“I believe that if you go across the country today, this is one of the best judiciary headquarters in the country and I congratulate the Governor and the judiciary of Delta State for this exemplary project.”

It is remarkable that the Delta State commissioner for information, Dr Ifeanyi Osuoza has replied to the issues of poor service delivery made by the League of Delta Patriots  with specific projects undertaken and commissioned by the incumbent governor.

Remarkably, the governor he claimed is building on the projects commenced by his predecessors, a legacy of political maturity that is rare in these shores.

Conducting newsmen through one of the ongoing projects at Ughelli, Edo Street which is expected to cut short traveling time from Asaba to Warri by avoiding the busy Otovwodo Junction, the commissioner of works, Comrade Reuben Izeze said:

“We are working to deliver long-lasting projects and are not bound by the timelines of any group masquerading under any name as patriots or whatever.

“You can see what is going on here, two, three months ago this place was a swamp but we are not going to rush the work to fit the timeline of any group. We are going to allow the road to soak water through at least one rainy season to allow the road to compact,” he said in dismissing the assertions of the Delta Patriots.

However, whether Dr Jonathan’s retort to the Delta League of Patriots is something that they would ponder on is something that is open to question. That is, given their pledge to continue with their write-ups. That, however, is a revelation of an agenda of political bickering. For residents of Delta now used to the MORE Agenda of Governor Oborevwori, this agenda is a strange one that they may not be disposed to.

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