Also, the Kaduna State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) threw its weight behind the president, as political appointees and chieftains of the party across the 23 local governments of the state expressed support for him and his deputy, Namadi Sambo, if they choose to contest the 2015 presidential election.
While moving the motion for the endorsement in Kaduna, the chairman of the party in the state, Chief Abubakar Gaiya Haruna, said it was time the people knew that hard work and honesty ought to be rewarded.
The South-West leaders, who converged on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at a rally organised by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), a political support group working towards the re-election of President Jonathan, declared ’unflinching support’ for the president’s re-election.
To demonstrate the readiness of the South-West geopolitical zone to support the president’s second term bid, the region collated 1.8 million signatures endorsing him to contest in 2015, with the Chief of Staff to the President, Brigadier-General Jones Arogbofa, noting that Jonathan “has transformed the country and should be supported to go again.”
The signatures, compiled into booklets and presented to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, for onward transmission to Jonathan, leaders of the zone at the event noted, were from verifiable signatories.
Also at the rally, held in the main bowl of the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, were Chief Bode George, Chief Gbenga Daniel, Dr Doyin Okupe, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, Honourable Mulikat Akande-Adeola, Senators Hosea Agboola, Iyiola Omisore and Teslim Folarin; Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo and Honourable Dimeji Bankole.
Others were Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Prince Buruji Kashamu, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Mr Jelili Adesiyan, Mr Kingsley Kuku, Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, Dr Jide Adeniji, Chief Olusola Oke, Gboyega Isiaka, Chief Ebenezer Babatope;,Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, Honourable Muraina Ajibola, Mr Femi Babalola, Mr Seyi Makinde and many others.
Speaking one after the other, the South-West leaders predicated their endorsement of Jonathan for 2015 on his transformation of the country, particularly Yorubaland, through various Federal Government projects spread across the region.
Chief George, who is a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), said Jonathan, apart from his transformation of the country, deserved to come back for successfully convoking a national conference of all groups in the country to discuss the problems besetting its progress.
Speaking on behalf of Oyo State, Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Olajumoke Akinjide, said President Jonathan deserved to be re-elected by the South-West people for the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan and Sagamu-Benin-Ore expressways and fixing the dilapidated railway to standard gauge, among many other projects.
Akinjide, whose entry into the stadium sparked loud cheers from the supporters she mobilised for the rally, said Jonathan’s victory in 2015 would be pan-Nigerian, as his unprecedented achievements were already speaking for him across the country.
She assured the organisers of the rally of unflinching support from the people of the state and the region for the transformation agenda.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune, the chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Dr Adeniji, noted that President Jonathan’s achievements had begun to speak for him, adding that the people of the South-West were committed to re-electing him.
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Akande-Adeola, declared the support of the National Assembly members in the state for Jonathan, tasking those who were yet to register as voters in the ongoing exercise to do so.
Source: Tribune
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