Executive members of the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign organisation recently visited Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to sell the president’s candidature to the people. Abiodun Awolaja reports the thrills and frills of the event.
AS the January presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) inches closer, the ovation which greeted the 2011 declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan in the South-West seems to have graduated into a celebration. This much was confirmed last Thurday when the Director-General, Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign organisation, Senator (Dr) Dalhatu Tafida, stormed Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, with other senior members of the organisation, to roaring applause by supporters of the president’s cause.
Tafida was in Ibadan to round off the organisation’s campaign tour of the South-West geo-political zone of the country and to inaugurate the 65 vehicles procured by Governor Alao-Akala for the 2011 presidential bid of the president and his (Akala’s) governorship campaign. The massive crowd of supporters, who had converged on the Ibadan Airport over an hour ahead of his arrival, nearly lynched airport personnel, as they attempted to force their way into the tarmac to receive him.
The Director-General, who arrived the Ibadan Airport at 12: 14 pm in a chartered Overland aircraft with members of his entourage, including Bolaji Adedeji, Gbenga Giwa; Dr Shehu Nuhu, former deputy governor of Niger State; Chief (Mrs) Abiodun Olujimi, former deputy governor of Ekiti State; Dr Samaila Sambawa, former Minister of Interior; Dr Ishaya Balat; former Minister of works and Barrister Ahmed Gulak, former Speaker of Adamawa State House of Assembly, stated that the campaign team was in Ibadan in recognition of its place as the political capital of the country and the status of Governor Alao-Akala as “the biggest contributor of men and materials” during the declaration of the presidential bid of Dr Jonathan at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Tafida, who was received by the governor in the Exco chambers at the Governor’s Office by elders of the PDP in the state including Chief Dejo Raimi, former Governors Omololu Olunloyo and Chief Kolapo Ishola; Asiwaju Moses Fagboun, members of the state executive council, federal lawmakers from Oyo State, the state Coordinator of the Goodluck/Sambo campaign organisation, Hon Dare Adeleke, Kehinde Olaosebikan and other chieftains of the PDP, said the organisation was in the state just as a matter of formality since the governor was an in-house man and a key player in the campaign set up of the president. He said it was important to visit the state in view of its large number of delegates who would help to make President Jonathan to secure the 2011 presidential ticket of the party.
“When you are talking of politics of the South-West and you don’t bring in Oyo State in the political equation, most of us feel a little bit uneasy, because the equation is not complete. That idea has been further strenghtened this morning when I came and saw the old politicians with whom we worked together in the past. Now, I know why you are as strong as you are. I know Chief Olunloyo and we were here in 1983 for campaigns. From our research, Oyo State has the largest number of delegates in the South-West and, therefore, there is no way we can play politics without Oyo State. Therefore, coming to you is a serious business. We are here to tell you that the president solicits not only your support but that of the other delegates at the presidential primaries in January.
“Now, we believe that your excellency will support Goodluck Jonathan not because he is currently the president but because he is a unifying factor in the country.Goodluck Jonathan stands for unity; Goodluck Jonathan stands for development, ” Tafida told the governor, adding that the Niger Delta people were pivotal to the success of the government of former President Shehu Shagari, with whom they united in forming the federal government in Lagos in the Second Republic. He said since the Niger Delta people had always supported the North in the country’s political history, it (the North) was duty-bound to give President Jonathan massive support as a way of paying back the good gesture of the region. “It is payback time for all Nigerians. We should pay the Niger Delta back for all their struggles.”
He urged Governor Akala to ensure a united PDP in Oyo State in order to consolidate on the bright prospects of President Jonathan in the South-West and to help the PDP’s cause in the zone. “We urge you to continue to reach out to others. All those that are quivering and complaining, please talk to them. Talk to them and one day they will see reason; they will come back and we will move forward. There is no way we can afford to have an opposition government in Oyo State. ” He urged Chief Olunloyo to assist in this regard.
Speaking earlier, Barrister Gulak had berated the Nothern Political Leaders Forum led by Mallam Adamu Ciroma, which he said was trying to foist a regional consensus candidate on the nation, in the face of the overwhelming consensus of Nigerians in favour of President Jonathan.
Responding, Governor Alao-Akala, who stated that the South-West’s support for President Jonathan’s 2011 ambition was total and unconditional, assured the director-general that the PDP would recapture all the states it had lost to opposition parties in future elections.
‘’In Oyo State, we have embraced Goodluck. Not only that; in the South-West, we have all endorsed Goodluck Jonathan/Sambo’s ticket and I want to assure you that we are committed to that. Oyo State is the heart of the South-West. I want to say this so that the people in Abuja will not think that because of the loss we had of late, all is not well with us in the South-West. We are still on. I want to assure you that we are committed to that. Oyo State is the heart of the South-West and I want to assure you that by the grace of God, we shall capture all those states that they think we have lost.
“Here in Oyo, nobody can take it from us. We have mastered the game very well; we have the old and the young mixed together. We talk to our elders all the time to tap from their wisdom and ensure that we have both the analogue and the digital working together,”he said.
He assured that efforts were being made to pacify aggrieved members of the party, saying the leaders of the party would ensure that it remained a unified house in the state.
Also speaking on the occasion, Dr Olunloyo said it was incumbent on the supporters of the president not to rubbish other PDP presidential candidates because their support would still be needed to ensure that the president wins the 2011 election should he emerge the PDP’s standard bearer. He said all efforts should be made to calm aggrieved members of the party so that it could reclaim all the states it had lost in the South-West. He further gave an insight into the two forms power shift could take, that is, either through zoning decided by people or through constitutional means, as occasioned by resignation or death.
The director-general’s entourage later visited the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, to receive royal blessings, before proceeding to the Oyo State Secretariat to address national delegates of the party. The Olubadan, who told the campaign team that his council of chiefs appreciated the efforts of President Jonathan “in bringing stability and relative peace to Nigeria,’’ expressed the optimism that the people of Ibadan would be receptive to the president’s message.
The festivities that attended Tafida’s visit however came to a fever pitch at the House of Chiefs within the Governor’s Office complex, where the entourage addressed the national delegates on the president’s bid. PDP members and supporters of the president, who turned out in various shades of aso ebi, engaged in wild jubilations and dancing, daring anybody to stand in the way of Dr Jonathan and the Oyo State governor. It was also an occasion when drummers spoke many hard words against those who would dare to challenge Dr Jonathan’s bid.
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