Jonathan Parleys Alaafin, Soun over Re-election Bid

in Ibadan President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday visited Oyo State as part of his ongoing campaign to have another shot at the presidency ahead of the March 28 general election.

The president visited both the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III and the Soun of Ogbomosoland, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade, where he pledged his commitment to consolidate on his achievements and take the nation to greater heights if re-elected.

In his separate visits to both palaces in Oyo and Ogbomoso respectively, Jonathan acknowledged the support of the traditional rulers to his administration and the nation building in general, stressing that his administration would continue to accord traditional rulers their pride place of leadership in the task to move Nigeria forward.

He said it has been the practice of the royal fathers to make significant changes geared towards moving the nation forward.

The president, who took time at both palaces to highlight his administration’s achievements in the various sectors of national life to include building of infrastructures, advancement of health sector to the development of education and many others.

He assured the monarchs that he would complete all ongoing projects, urging the people to re-elect him.

“We have done well in many sectors such as agriculture. We tackled Ebola, eradicated guineaworm and polio. In the area of education, we established 14 new universities. Only about 5,000km out of the 35, 000km roads in the country were motorable when we were elected.

“We have completed 20,000 kilometres and will complete the remaining 10, 000 kilometres if we are re-elected,” he said.

Jonathan, who said he had just inaugurated the Olorunsogo and Igbehin power plants, said the much desired power supply would be reached. He urged the monarchs to remain fathers to all political office seekers, while not jettisoning good governance.

Earlier in his address, Soun urged the president to help the community complete all ongoing federal government projects in the area, like the Oyo-Ogbomoso-Ilorin express way. He congratulated the president for rebasing the nation’s economy as the largest in Africa in terms of Gross Domestic Product(GDP).