Diri calls Duke pretender, alleges presidential ambition is bid for rehabilitation

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has accused former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke of political pretence, alleging that his presidential ambition is a bid to secure political “rehabilitation”.

Mr Diri made the allegation while responding to Mr Duke’s remarks about the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, escalating their disagreement over the feasibility of constructing roads and bridges across Bayelsa’s swampy terrain.

In a video posted Thursday on the Bayelsa Government New Media Facebook page, Mr Diri described Mr Duke as a “jester and a pretender”. He accused him of adopting an insulting posture towards him as a serving governor during an appearance on ARISE News Television.

“There is no councillor from PRP in your own ward, yet you pretend to be a presidential candidate so that at the end of the day, you will be rehabilitated,” Mr Diri said.

Mr Duke is the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.

The governor’s remarks followed Mr Duke’s description of him as a “local champion” during an interview on ARISE News, in which the former governor questioned the feasibility and affordability of the coastal highway.

Mr Duke argued that the proposed highway was impractical because of Bayelsa’s swampy terrain and the financial implications of building hundreds of bridges along the route.

But Mr Diri rejected the criticism, insisting that the state’s experience in constructing roads and bridges across difficult terrain showed that the project was achievable.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Diri cited road projects in Bayelsa to counter Mr Duke’s claim that the highway was unbuildable through the state.

The governor said he was particularly disappointed that a former governor from the Niger Delta would make remarks he considered dismissive of Bayelsa and its people.

“The former governor went to ARISE TV. What I saw there was more of an insult,” Mr Diri said.

He also took exception to Mr Duke’s reported remark that he (Duke) did not know him.

“Donald Duke, hear me well, I am not ‘that fellow’. I am an elected, sitting governor of Bayelsa State,” he said.

“If you claimed you don’t know me, I don’t likewise know you.”

Mr Diri argued that Mr Duke, as a former governor, should respect the office of a governor regardless of their personal relationship.

He also dismissed Mr Duke’s description of him as a local champion, saying his political responsibility was to represent the interests of the people who elected him.

“I am a local champion because that is where I was raised. I was elected to serve the local people. I was elected to champion their cause,” he said.

The governor later questioned Mr Duke’s record on the Bakassi dispute, which led to the transfer of the peninsula to Cameroon following a 2002 International Court of Justice judgement.

“Donald Duke, let me ask you, you were in office when Bakassi was ceded to Cameroon. Because you were not a local champion, you did nothing about it,” Mr Diri said.

He accused the former governor of failing to defend local interests while in office, contrasting that record with his own commitment to defending Bayelsa and its people.

Mr Diri said his response went beyond a personal disagreement; he saw it as an attack on the state and its people.

“I do not take up people. I am not one to insult people. I don’t insult leaders, I don’t insult elders. But what you have done is not just about me. It is about my environment; it is about my people,” he said.

“I will stand tall at all times to defend this environment and defend the people of Bayelsa State.”

Diri misconstrued my statement – Duke

When contacted for his reaction to Mr Diri’s remarks, Mr Duke told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that the governor misconstrued his statement.

“I never said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road was not desirable; all I said was that, at this time, it is not financially feasible, and Minister Umahi vindicated me by stating the road is being diverted to join the East -West Highway for the same reasons I stated,” Mr Duke said in a written text to our reporter.

“I can understand him championing the road within his vicinity. That’s perfectly acceptable. If the road were ever built, I’d be one of its greatest beneficiaries as I live both in Lagos and Calabar. I used Bayelsa only as an example of the challenging terrain the road will have to traverse.

“But honestly, I doubted from the outset the road would be built. I said it then, and I say it again: the road, as we know it, will terminate at Epe, and that’s what has happened.

“And how did I disrespect his office? By disagreeing with him?” the former governor said.

Background

The dispute began after Mr Duke questioned the technical and financial feasibility of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a federal government project planned to traverse nine coastal states.

Mr Duke argued that Bayelsa’s swampy terrain would make construction difficult and expensive, and questioned the project’s priority amid Nigeria’s competing development needs.

Mr Diri, however, said his administration had built roads and bridges in similar conditions, citing projects including the Nembe-Brass Road, the Sagbama-Ekeremor-Agge Road, and the 630-metre bridge across River Nun at Angiama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

In a subsequent response reported by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Duke maintained that the existence of roads and bridges in Bayelsa did not settle questions about the coastal highway’s cost, engineering requirements and economic justification.