Former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has been talking a lot, of late.

After the years of residing in political wilderness, he appears to have gotten his verve back- and he’s sharing with anyone that cares to listen.

With Vanguard, he spoke extensively about his protege turned liberator- former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

Here are 7 statements he said about Jonathan:

1. “Jonathan is more experienced than any president that has ruled this country in the past. If I may ask, which former president of this country was in power for 16 years? He was in office as deputy governor and was overseeing administration of local governments and was very conversant with the administration of local governments at that level. He was also performing the role of a deputy governor. He became a governor and is also familiar with governance at that level. He became a vice president and later acting president and a president. Which Nigerian has that pedigree? None.”

 

2. “Balarabe Musa goofed. I am not aware of any special school that people go to become president. Academically, Jonathan is more qualified than any of them, and in our local environment at the University of Port Harcourt, he has street knowledge because he is locally bred.”

 

3. “Not everybody will like his style but I can tell you that if you sit down and catalogue what he has done for this country, no other president has done that. But it is his life style; he is a very quiet man, unassuming but with very high intellectual content. If Goodluck believes in something, the house can collapse but he will do what he believes in. He has a very strong character. It depends on who is looking at him and from which angle.”

 

4. “From the beginning, people’s mindset were fixed for him to fail and to manage that perception was another problem. But he did well. All these things that the APC is claiming to have done in 100 days are just claims; you cannot fix the refinery in three months. Somebody must have done very serious work before. To do turnaround maintenance takes 18 months and not three months.”

 

5. “There is no need romancing with your subjects, quarreling with one another, wasting precious time and resources when you can come out straight as Jonathan did the other day. This would have been done long ago so that people would not waste time and resources by going to pick forms. Jonathan has been here for six and half years as Deputy Governor, governor for one and half years before he went to the federal level. So, this is a familiar terrain.”

 

6. “I am glad that at last, Jonathan came out openly. It is possible he would have been doing that privately but recently and on the declaration day, he impressed me because he came out openly in support of Governor Dickson. For so many reasons which we know as politicians in the state, having lost at the centre, you cannot protect your house for people to invade your privacy; it is not done.”

 

7. “I had unlimited access to Jonathan and I used to have free access to his home. If I met him eating, I would join him and so on. Jonathan has no money. So, if Buhari is looking to extract money from him, he won’t find.”