President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid got a huge boost on Saturday as the foremost traditional ruler of Yorubaland, Ooni of Ife, gave and unreserved endorsement to his candidature.
The Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, leading other traditional rulers in Osun State showered his blessings on Jonathan, an action pundits say is one of a major breakthrough in Jonathan’s push to take SouthWest states in the coming election.
Jonathan needs win most of the Outhern states and do well in atleast five northern states to trounce the resurgent just General Muhammed Buhari (rtd), who flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jonathan at the occasion pledged 100 per cent implementation of the national confab recommendations, if re-elected, to bring about sustainable development of all regions in the country.
President Jonathan said with the commitment to implement the report of the national conference, a majority of the challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation would be tackled, thus creating enabling and conducive atmosphere to promote overall growth in the polity and address all peculiar problems inhibiting the greatness of the nation.i
Jonathan, who arrived the palace of the Ooni of Ife around 2:22 pm was received by Oba Sijuwade and about 60 traditional rulers from Osun State.
He said, “One thing that we want to promise is something that can change the socio-economic sector. This is the implementation of the national conference recommendations, which is key to moving Nigeria forward. When some people were talking of change, we are committed to moving the nation to greater heights.
“The opposition boycotted the national confab. They cannot implement the recommendations of confab they did not support. Sustainable changes can only be achieved with the implementation of the national conference report. The PDP is the only party that advocated the full implementation of that report.”
On the marginalisation of the South West in the political equation of the country, the President said it was not an intended policy of his administration.
He however pledged that such situation would not happen again if re-elected.
He said, “The marginalisation is not my own making . In my second term, it won’t come up at all. I promise that the South West would not be short changed this time around. They would be appointed into key positions.
Jonathan, who recalled that about 5,000 kilometres of federal government roads were motorable when his administration took over maintained that “by now, we have already reconstructed additional 20, 000 kilometres of motorable roads”.
He contended that the intervention of his administration in the agricultural sector had staved off food crisis, which would have ravaged the country during the 2012 flood, adding that “before we took over, Nigeria was expending N3.3 trillion on food importation. But now, our food importation expenses stands at N600 billion”.
Significantly, Ooni did not just give a perfunctory endorsement of the President, but lead other Obas to pray for him in a radio ally significant way.
“President Jonathan is fighting in a race. He must not fail. By the grace of God, you will win the race,” Oba Sijuwade said.
The monarch, thereafter, directed all the traditional rulers to surround Jonathan and point their staffs to him and pray for his success during the forthcoming March 28 presidential.
