Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said he would have moved his mother out of Bayelsa State to the nation’s capital, Abuja, if another candidate other than Governor Douye Diri had emerged winner of last Saturday’s off-cycle election.

Governor Diri defeated Timipire Sylva, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, to secure a second term in office.

President Jonathan, who spoke when he paid a congratulatory visit to Diri in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, said insecurity would have been worse if the Governor had lost.

“We don’t want to go into unnecessary crisis in the State. Results have been declared and we believe the election was conducted.

We believe the Governor won the election and we plead that people should accept it and work with the Governor. Let all of us support him so that the state will move ahead.

“There should be nothing that will push the State backward. We should think about the development of the State starting from the issue of peace and security in the State which within this last period, three years plus, there are significant improvements in terms of cultism and kidnapping and so on and so forth.

“I was saying before this election that if Diri loses this election, I would have relocated my mother to Abuja.”

Recounting how his cousin was kidnapped and killed, Jonathan expressed optimism that with Diri returning as the Governor of the State, such insecurity would soon be a thing of the past.

“My cousin was kidnapped two times. On one of those occasions, one of my cousins, Solo, was killed because they threw him into the river and he didn’t know how to swim.

“So, we’ve passed through hell in this State and we’ve seen a little light at the end of the tunnel. So, people should calm down, and allow Diri to focus on governance so that he will be able to propel this State forward so that we will benefit as citizens of the State,” he said.

Sylva had succeed Jonathan as Governor of Bayelsa in 2007 when the ex-President was elected Vice-President