Makinde reiterates commitment to religious harmony, peace

• Lauds religious leaders, others for their support
• Gov’s second term ’ll unite members, says Oyo PDP

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, yesterday, said that his administration would continue to foster harmony among various religions in the state, noting that religious tolerance and peace being witnessed in the state would continue.

The governor stated this during the ninth Omituntun yearly Ramadan lecture held at the Government House Arcade, Agodi, Ibadan.

Makinde, who appreciated the various religious faiths and organisations, including Muslim Ummah, Islamic leaders and clerics, traditional rulers, government functionaries and politicians for maintaining harmony despite the relentless efforts of religious extremists to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in the state, said that he remained grateful to God for being able to surmount the challenges.

He equally reiterated that he would, during his second tenure, increase efforts towards taking the state to greater heights.

In their various sermons, Sheik Daud Yusuf Alawiye and Sheik Hashim Atere described Makinde as a trustworthy and pious leader, who they said, has the love of his people at heart.

In his remarks, the Deputy Governor, Abdulroheem Bayo Lawal, thanked the Muslim Ummah for standing by the administration despite all odds, especially prior to the election.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has described the governor’s victory as God’s ordained mandate, saying that it is a unifying factor that will put an end to grievances among leaders and stalwarts within the party.

The party, while also congratulating the deputy governor and all the 28 newly-elected and re-elected lawmakers on the platform of the ruling party, noted that politics remains an absolutely local affair anywhere it is being practised in the world.

Publicity Secretary of PDP in the state, Akeem Olatunji, on behalf of the party, re-assured the people of Oyo State of more good times ahead in the next four years.

The party commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for introducing measures that improved the credibility of the electoral process, which has further improved the confidence of Nigerians in the Commission’s ability to deepen democracy in Nigeria given the needed resources.

While describing Makinde’s landslide victory in no fewer than 31 out of the 33 local government areas in the state on March 18 guber election as an all time record in the history of elections in the state, the ruling PDP added that the result was a clear testament of Makinde’s undisputable achievements in less than four years.

Olatunji maintained that contrary to political speculations and permutations in different quarters about some zones being stronghold of different political parties or not, the electorates have strongly proven that any governor with the people at the centre of all policies and programs will also enjoy electoral support from the masses.

Olatunji who dedicated the party’s victory to the people of Oyo state as the heroes of the March 18 guber election, explained further that regardless of the internal issues within the ruling party, the people of Oyo state have expressed an overwhelming confidence in the PDP led government under the leadership of Governor Makinde through the ballots on March 18.

He added that the party does not take such unprecedented and overwhelming support of the people for granted and will ensure dividends of democracy continue to reach the common man at the grassroots via people centered and oriented government policies and programs.

According to the press statement, the ruling party reaffirmed the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde as the overall leader of PDP in Oyo state and the entire south west Nigeria by provisions of the party’s constitution while urging aggrieved leaders in the party to join hands with the governor to make the party more united and formidable.

“We urge all aggrieved leaders in the state to note that it pleases God to entrust the leadership of our great party, the PDP in Oyo state and the entire south west Nigeria, to the care of His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, who has continued to make us proud in all fronts. They should therefore, genuinely return home to make the party more united and formidable.

“Governor Makinde has rebuilt PDP in Oyo state into a legacy we are all proud to call our own. We owe it a duty therefore, not only to our great party but to the people of Oyo state whose hope of economic revival and sustained accelerated development being championed by our own God’s sent man, rest solely as clearly evident in the outcome of the last election.

“We can not afford to disappoint the people who have willingly handed our party another four years of leadership as government to pilot the affairs of the state. While assuring His Excellency, Governor Makinde of the party’s unalloyed loyalty and support for the present government under his watchful leadership, the PDP in Oyo state also wishes to celebrate and congratulate all party members and various political support groups spread across the 33 local government areas of the state”, he said.