Jonathan renews efforts to woo South-West voters

President Goodluck Jonathan and
his campaign handlers have
redoubled their efforts to get
significant votes from the South-
West during the March 28
presidential election.
The PUNCH gathered on Thursday
that the decision was based on
calculations that the zone, because
of its high number of registered
voters, was critical to Jonathan’s re-
election.
A Presidency official told one of our
correspondents that that was why
the members of the Peoples
Democratic Party Presidential
Campaign Council decided that
Jonathan should reach out more to
political, opinion leaders and
traditional rulers in the zone with a
view to getting their support.
He said that Jonathan and his
handlers had therefore decided to
use his ongoing visit to the South-
West to carry out the task.
Jonathan, who was in Lagos on
Thursday to inaugurate four Naval
platforms, is expected to remain in
the zone till Sunday. He later met
with the Yoruba Council of Elders at
the State House, Marina, Lagos.
Our source said the campaign
team believes that the meeting
could easily influence their (YCE )
followers to support Jonathan.
According to him, barring any last
minute change in plan, Jonathan
will be visiting the Alaafin of Oyo,
Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, on
Saturday.
On the same day, the President will
visit the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade
Sijuwade.
He said, “You will recall that when
the President visited Ibadan for his
campaign, he only visited
Olubadan. We have identified the
need for him to also visit the Alaafin
of Oyo.
“The same thing happened when
we were at Osogbo for the
presidential rally. He visited the
Ataoja of Osogbo. We have found it
necessary to visit the Ooni of Ife.
“More traditional rulers from the
zone will be reached out to during
this period, one way or the other.
“The simple message for these
monarchs is for them to support the
President’s re-election bid.”
The opposition All Progressives
Congress controls three states in
the South-West(Lagos, Oyo and
Osun) while Jonathan’s Peoples
Democratic Party is in charge of
Ekiti and Ondo states. The PUNCH
had reported exclusively on
Tuesday that following the delay
of polls dates, the PDP Campaign
Council had resolved to begin
another round of state-wide
campaigns.
It was reported then that unlike the
just-concluded campaigns that took
Jonathan to about 35 states, about
10 states would be visited during
this round for more “penetration
and consultations.”
Some Yoruba leaders, who
converged on Akure, Ondo State
on Thursday to review the
recommendations of the National
Conference, concluded that a vote
for Jonathan would ensure the
implementation of the
conference’s recommendations.
The meeting by the Yoruba leaders
under the aegis of Afenifere Group.
was tagged, ‘’National Conference,
2015 Elections and the Yoruba
Nation.’
The Chairman of the occasion, Chief
Ayo Adebanjo, set the tone of the
meeting, saying that the support
expressed by Afenifere for Jonathan
was not partisan but based on the
interest of the South-West people.
He said the vision of a restructured
Nigeria was being realised with the
convening of the 2014 National
Conference.
Adebanjo said, “We are supporting
Jonathan because of the
consistency of the Yoruba to have
this country restructured so that it
can develop.
“People are calling for change. I
want a change in the constitution
of Nigeria. Only a change in the
constitution can truly bring about
the change that we need.”
The convener of the summit, who is
also the Ondo State Governor,
Olusegun Mimiko, stressed the
need for change in the 1999
Constitution so as to enable the
Yoruba nation to grow its economy
independently.
He said, “The Confab report, when
implemented, will create room for
each state to have its own
constitution, its own police force,
its own prison service. Each state
can create its own local
government, can build its own
airports, sea ports and railways in
addition.
“In the economic domain, solid
minerals that had been the
exclusive preserve of the Federal
Government since independence,
have now been brought to the
concurrent list. States can now
create employment and develop at
their own pace. With all that, it
liberates everybody; it opens up
the political space.”
Mimiko noted that Jonathan was
genuinely committed to
transforming Nigeria through the
convening of the National
Conference, adding that the
outcome had proved sceptics
wrong.
He said now that those deriding the
conference had been proved
wrong, they had been scheming “to
hijack power so as to throw the
Confab report to the dustbin of
history.”
In their goodwill messages, the
Founder of the O’odua Peoples
Congress, Frederick Faseun, and
the National Coordinator, OPC, Gani
Adams, warned that the National
Conference report remained a
vehicle for actualising the Yoruba
dream of a prosperous South-West.
Others in attendance were
Kunle Olajide, Biodun Olujimi,
Makanjuola Ogundipe, Femi
Okurounmu, Gboyega Isiaka, Jide
Adeniyi, Yinka Odumakin and the
Minister of State for Works, Dapo
Adeyeye.

hmmmm who we vote him? our eyes don open

ancl wrote:

hmmmm who we vote him? our eyes don open

No mind him bro, he wan spend out of the money he embezzled.