From Bode Durojaiye,Oyo.
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has said that if voted into power, he would rebuild the country within the thrust of the policy which recognises the mode of governance and how far the citizens are regarded therein.
This, he said, is the crucial variable that is inevitable if the country is to be rectified from the present socio-economic quagmire and reconstructed democratically.
Buhari stated this on Thursday night when he and his entourage paid a courtesy visit to the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111.
Buhari was highly impressed by the large crowd of residents who besieged the ancient palace as early as 8am and waited patiently to receive him hours later.
According to him, “a nation begins to develop when it assures its citizens the fundamental human rights to dream. APC-led administration will create the trust within which a permanent possibility of symbiotic relationship between the individual rights and the community interests can be nurtured.’’
Lambasting the PDP-led administration for unjustly inflicting untold hardships on the citizens through retroactive policies and monumental corruption, Buhari said his administration was hell-bent in re-writing the tragic story of the country as scripted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, through harnessing the potential for the betterment of all and sundry.
“The ruling party at the centre has no compass for doing these
because the public sphere for negotiating values, agreement,
creativity and differences is totally dysfunctional as evident in the state of insecurity, alarming rate of unemployment and brazen impunity’’.
He also pledged to construct rail line between Lagos and Abeokuta, as well as revamp the education sector where environments for learning would be more conducive.
Buhari described the Alaafin as “a detribalised and highly
intelligent paramount ruler with uncompromising intellectual sagacity whose zeal for mutual co-existence and human resources development remains a source of inspiration’’
He noted that this informed his decision for the appointment of the Alaafin as Chancellor, former University of
Sokoto, now known as Uthman Dan-Fodio University when he was military Head of State.
“Our visit to Oyo State would not have been completed without the visit to his Imperial Majesty’s palace. We also thank the people for the support and impressive turn-out and pledged not to betray the confidence and trust reposed in us’’.
In his address, Governor Abiola Ajimobi urged the elated residents not to be complacent, but be determined and resolute in actualising the needed change of the present ruling government at the centre through their massive votes for all branded APC candidates during elections.
Responding, Oba Adeyemi said Nigeria needs leaders like Buhari whose mind is so enlarged as to be able to understand
the demands of national development, as well as the place of the people in such a project.
Alaafin commended Ajimobi for his steadfastness and
sense of devotion towards genuine transformation of the state.
Of particular interest to the Alaafin was the premium given to
traditional institutions.
“This is indeed laudable because traditional rulers are not
politicians but take interest in how people are governed. Traditional rulers in the country had suffered continued and sustained whittling down of their powers, especially in official, political and judicial spheres’’.
The result of the foregoing, Alaafin asserted, is that development projects designed to improve the welfare of the citizenry never enjoyed the latter’s cooperation and were, in most cases, outright failures.
“This is particularly so because most programmes and projects were viewed by the populace as an imposition on them. Recognising this development, government lately started to seek the support of traditional rulers who are recognised as fathers of their subjects’’.
Oba Adeyemi added that traditional rulers have also been alive to their responsibilities by supporting the administration and giving useful advices where necessary.
