Behold Diri the Worshipper
By OFONIME UMANAH
Not too many people know this part of him. Many know him as a typical Ijaw man who does not blink when he is face to face with trouble. They know him as someone that may have been possessed either by the fearless spirit of Isaac Adaka Boro, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, Pa Edwin Clark, Senator Seriake Dickson, et cetera- men who were or are ready to make sacrifices to defend the Ijaw cause and indeed the cause of the Niger Delta.
If there are those who know him to be very politically alert, or as someone who has a large heart and knows how to forgive, and has been taken for granted by people he has helped, including those he recently gave money for foreign Ph.D studies, but who are now joining forces with a political war monger from Rivers State who desires to set Bayelsa State on fire, they may not know that Senator Douye Diri has the spirit of David.
Have you ever seen Diri in the church? Have you ever seen him with the microphone, not talking about how he is constructing roads to connect the three senatorial districts for the first time since the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996? Have you ever seen him at the ecumenical centre, not thanking God for his emergence as governor of Bayelsa State after everybody had written him off, but singing, dancing and rolling on the floor?
Senator Douye Diri is a worshiper. If you even decide to call him Senator Douye O-Biri Agbam-Izon Diri, he is not likely to pick offence for the additions. He loves good music, especially Ijaw Christian songs. He loves to dance. He loves to worship. He loves to prostrate in God’s presence, to show obeisance and submission to the Almighty.
Diri seems to know the secret to God’s heart, which the biblical David discovered decades ago. In fact, he would, in a way, contest with his deputy once they are in the church, during praise/worship session. And he would hardly leave the pulpit if he did not go flat on the floor, in a show of total surrender to God. He has been consistently consistent in this act of worship.
Whenever he is flat on the floor, he may be remembering how the 2019 elections went-how INEC announced the APC candidate, David Lyon, as winner of the gubernatorial election, how the man was already rehearsing ahead of his swearing in, and how, less than 24 hours after, the music changed and he was the one that had to mount the podium to be sworn-in as governor, defying every logic and permutations.
On Sunday, Diri was at his best, his very best, that is. It was at the album launch and concert organized by music maestro and Ijaw musician, Asu Ekiye. Two things must have thrilled Diri, pushing him to the dance floor and making him do what he likes to do always-go flat on the floor for God. He must have remembered the events of and before February 14, 2020. As an Ijaw man, he must have been mesmerized by the Ijaw music renditions by Ekiye and could not hold back. The worshipper in him showed up and he sang, danced and worshipped till his spirit left him.
Senator Douye O-Biri Agbam-Izon Diri should not read this. Otherwise, he will know that we know that he is a governor with the spirit of a worshipper.
