President in Ondo, wants end to PDP crisis

President Goodluck Jonathan held his campaign
rally on Wednesday in Akure, with a promise to
increase funding for education and nurture small
and medium scale industries in the country.
He also used the rally to appeal to politicians to
make the citizens the focus of their political
pursuit.
The President, who arrived the Democracy Park,
Akure, at 11.30am, was greeted by a waiting
crowd, who had converged on the park as early as
8am.
But it was the message of reconciliation to the
warring members of the Peoples Democratic Party
in the state that took the best of his campaign
speech, when he called on the party leaders to
resolve their differences.
It was apparent that the crisis was an issue at the
campaign when the National Chairman of the party,
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, shelved the ceremony of
handing the party flags to the candidates of the
party in the state.
Although the flags were brought on stage for the
ceremony, Mu’azu quickly went past item, to call
up the President for his address, to the chagrin of
some of the party leaders.
He specifically called on the state Governor
Olusegun Mimiko, Olusola Oke and business
mogul, Jimoh Ibrahim, to enter into discussions
that would resolve the crisis rocking the party in
the state.
Jonathan said as a state of progressives, the
people of the state should support his government
to provide the needed dividends of democracy for
them.
“All we request from you is your votes. When you
vote for the House of Assembly positions, you vote
for House of Representatives positions, for the
Senate positions, and of course, for the presidential
positions, we will work with your government to
make sure that we give you the best.
“For the PDP family, what I will use this platform to
request is (that) yes, we have issues in Ondo State.
The party will work very hard to make sure that
Jimoh Ibrahim and the governor will sit down
together and talk about the interest of Ondo State.
“Iroko himself, Jimoh Ibrahim and Olusola Oke (he
is my SAN); three of them must sit down to
discuss the development of Ondo State. They must
not sit down to discuss personal things or
individual interest. They must work together to
make sure that collectively we attain the
development of Ondo State and the nation.
“Everything about politics is the people; not self. I
know how I came into politics. Politics is about the
people, but for the people, we wouldn’t have been
here today. I did not join politics because I wanted
something for myself. So, I am encouraging every
politician to think about the people,” Jonathan
said.
The President noted that only a united PDP in
Ondo State could serve the people better, adding
that it would ensure victory for the party and
promote quick federal interventions in the state.
He said the resolution of the frosty relationship
between the party leaders was an urgent necessity
for the survival of the party.
He said, “They have some cold relationship now,
but we will heat up the relationship and keep it
warm. So, those of you who are supporting us, we
should know that we are together. We have these
issues; we will resolve the issues. We have issues
as a party and we will resolve these issues.
“Because we want one Ondo State, we want one
PDP in Ondo State. If we don’t work together here,
you will be surprised that another party will exploit
it and none of us will be happy.”
Jonathan further noted that Ondo State was
strategic as a leading PDP state in the country,
saying, “Ondo State is a PDP state; Ondo State will
remain a PDP State. We will make sure the sons
and daughters of Ondo State within the PDP will
work together for the interest of our great party.”
Earlier, the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, had
said the Jonathan administration had ensured the
generation of over 4,500 megawatts of electricity
from the 2,000 megawatts it met when he came
into office.
He said other hydro power stations under
construction were in the making that would boost
power generation to a comfortable level not too
long from now.
Sambo said about 20,000km of tarred roads had
been added to what was existing in the last six
years, while 3,500km of rail line had been built.
Mimiko, while welcoming the President to the
state, said that Ondo State was the home of
progressive politics.
He said the people of the state were supporting the
President in principle because of his good work
and inclusive transformation of the country.