Diri denies links with South African lawmaker, alleged leaked sex video

Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, has denied knowing a South African parliamentarian, Zanele Sifuba, who accused him of leaking her nude video.

The governor said he does not know, let alone have contact with Sifuba, who is currently facing the scandal of a leaked nude video in South Africa.

Sifuba, the Speaker of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) Free State legislature, alleged that Diri is the mastermind of her leaked nude video.

She topped the trends list in South Africa after she was captured in the sex tape.

She claimed that Diri as her lover, lamenting that he betrayed her trust.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Sifuba accused Diri of leaking the video.

“This is the picture of the man who leaked our video. He is my lover whom I trusted. A Nigerian official, by name Douye Diri.

“I trusted him with my life, but he betrayed me. Please share for the whole world to know the kind of man he is,” Sifuba wrote with the photograph of the governor on it.

Several South Africans, groups and parties sympathised with her and condemned the circulation of her nude images and sex tape.

The scandal apparently started with the leakage of screenshots from the actual video as the nudes started making the rounds on October 31.

The Free State Legislature quickly responded by ordering an investigation into the Speaker’s sex scandal.

The development has exposed several Nigerians in South Africa to verbal attacks.

But the Director of New Media to the governor, Dr. Kola Oredipe, said through a statement on Saturday that Diri has not been to South Africa in the last 10 years.

Oredipe described media reports linking the governor to the trending story involving the female parliamentarian, Sifuba, as a mere distraction.

He pointed out that the Facebook account on which the post was made purportedly belonging to the woman was created on Thursday, November 10, 2022.

Oredipe said the scandal first appeared on the social media in South Africa on October 31, and was linked to an unnamed Nigerian youth.

He further noted that those behind the post twisted fake account bearing the governor’s image with the intent of tarnishing his image.

Wondering how Governor Diri would resort to blackmail for N8million, Oredipe urged the public to discountenance the story, which he described as untrue and lacking in merit.