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.
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.
