Eniola Olayemi
Ibadan, the Oyo state capital on Saturday stood still to receive President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who were in the state on a campaign tour.
This is coming even as the President solicited for the support and understanding of the traditional rulers and people of the state in his bid to take the country to its next level of development.
The two-legged event which started with a consultative meeting with traditional rulers from across the pacesetter state ended up with a presidential campaign rally at the famous Mapo Hall, Ibadan.
No fewer than 103 traditional rulers from Oyo state led by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji and Soun of Ogbomosho, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi met the President, the Vice President and other top party leaders at the consultative meeting which held at the House of Chiefs, Agodi Secretariat, Ibadan.
Addressing the traditional rulers, President Buhari who said he was in the state to meet the traditional rulers to thank them for the support his administration has enjoyed so far since assumption of office in 2015 recounting his attempts at winning earlier in 2003, 2007 and 2011 but not until 2015 when he won.
Noting how his administration had faired since 2015, the President said the 16 years of the People’s Democratic Party’s rule could be likened to torment to the people with a dearth of infrastructures despite the availability of immense fund.
The President added that his administration had laid the foundation for the development of the nation with physical infrastructures like the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the light rail from Ibadan to Lagos which was nearing completion among other projects in the pipeline.
He said “I am here to warn you to please reflect on the conditions we met this country in 2015, where we are now and what we are able to do even with the little available resources to us. I keep on repeating this just as a reminder and I challenge any Nigeria to go to Europe, United States and Asia and check for the 16 years of PDP rule; I know you (traditional rulers) are supposed to be apolitical.
“I challenge anybody to go and check, that for the 16 years of PDP, Nigeria was earning good money and the state of our infrastructure and of our people were worse when we came, the road, the rail were in decay and there was no power. Along the line, some of them admitted that they spent 16 million dollars on power and yet to no avail.
“Once the roads are good, the rail is working and there is power, most Nigerians would mind their own business, they won’t even care about who is in government. But when there is no infrastructure, everybody will sit at home and curse the government.
“I assure you that our plan is to secure the country and improve on the economy and things that will rub on the life of the people. You all know these things more than I do because you sit more around your people day-in and day-out.
“So, please we need you and your constituencies, we appeal for your support and understanding. We assure you that we will not abuse the trust and we will not spare anybody who abuses the trust.”
Responding on behalf of the traditional rulers, the Alaafin appealed to the President to give Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state the needed support for him to emerge the next Senate president, saying the governor has indeed transformed the state from been known as a garrison command to a modern state upon the assumption of office in 2011.
While addressing the thousands of party supporters who had thronged the Mapo rally venue, APC National leader and Co-Chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu warned the people not to be deceived with the lies of those he described as greedy looters.
He pointed out that only the main opposition party is planning to rig election but that members of the ruling party must ensure that they troop out on February 16th to celebrate the final burial of the opposition and send some political opponents to their political retirement.
Tinubu said, “Don’t let looters and greedy people lie to you and deceive you again. Have you been hearing that they have been threatening that they will rig the election? Will we still rig election with this huge population of supporters? Are they not the ones without members anymore? They are the ones without people. We are not going backwards again.
“I won’t mention anybody’s name but I want to say that if they cannot vote or do politics again, let them go and throw in the towel. I implore you all to go out on the day of the election, don’t just say we have won already; you still need to go and vote because we need to prove that we have the number to win the election. President Muhammadu Buhari is the only choice.”
He urged the people to keep their PVCs intact and ensure they vote all the APC candidates in the spirit of the true progressives.
In his charge to the party members, APC National chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said the opposition killed themselves with their deeds in the last 16years.
“All the things that they have done in their 16years rule is now standing against them. They are the ones dead and on the 16th of February we will bury them all. What killed them is your PVC. I can assure you that on February 16th, some of them will indeed die politically. I am so happy because we have done what is right.
“I will tell you the difference between the progressives and the conservatives. In the past, the PDP philosophy is just about sharing the money. They only share what belongs to everybody to the rich. But now President Muhammadu Buhari has come in and said no more stealing from the government treasury to be shared by the rich for the rich.”
“I hope you listened to Alhaji Abubakar Atiku interview in Lagos who said if you make mistake to elect ‘those who are dead’, that he will sell everything that is owned by the government and that he will enrich his friend. Does Atiku know you? Is he your friend?
“He did not say he will enrich Nigerians, he did not say he will empower Nigerians, he did not say he will support the youths, he said he will enrich his friends. Are you going to vote for a man who has told you his agenda to enrich his friends?
“The partnership between a trader who doesn’t care about who is stealing the good from the store and the man who says he will enrich his friends through public treasure is a partnership in death politically and I know that all of you in Oyo state on February 16 will open and shine our eyes to vote them out and vote Buhari in.
Reacting to the sudden change of tune by Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare support to his former Vice as the PDP presidential candidate, the APC national chairman said, “you know in Yoruba land, we respect elders but when someone is old and also lies in the morning, noon and evening, such an old man doesn’t deserve our respect because respect begets respect.
“So, that man who said Atiku is a thief. He said it in the morning, he said it in the afternoon and even wrote about it in his book and only came back to say he (Obasanjo) has forgiven him (Atiku), is he (Obasanjo) equivalent to Nigeria? I think that is very insulting for anyone who has been outsmarting as that old age cheating farmer, who has governed Nigeria for about eleven and half years to say that once he forgives, what was stolen, all Nigeria must forgive, is to assume that he is equivalent to Nigeria, that is not the tradition, even in Yorubaland.
“So, I ask you all to recognize that it is not over until he is over, so, you come out and vote against privatisation of Nigeria. Vote against the auctioning of our national asset. Vote against the enriching of the friends of Atiku.”
In his welcome remarks, the host governor Ajimobi said “I am appealing to you that this election is between the following: this election is between the progressives and the retrogressive, it is between development with healing and development with stealing.
“It is between security of looting and security of saving. It is between integrity and decadence. It is between nobility of character and ignobility of character. It is between rectitude and dishonesty. It is between accountability and impunity. It is between corruptibility and incorruptibility. It is between APC and headache. It is between APC and dane guns, it is between daylight and darkness. It is between ‘we are dead’ and we are not dead.
“And I want to say this, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo met Nigeria in bricks, in broken bricks, they have moved it to marble, the next level is granite and they want to move it to granite level.”
