Obas can’t guarantee votes for Jonathan –SWPA

SESAN OLUFOWOBI

A group, the South West Peoples Assembly, has said the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan and the report of dollars exchanging hands at the palaces of traditional rulers are not enough to guarantee votes for the President in the South West.

The assembly said the President must instead, be sincere with the region, noting that the people of the area had been schemed from strategic positions or appointments under Jonathan’s leadership.

The convener of the assembly, Mr. Lai Omotola, stated this in a statement on Wednesday, saying out of the six geo-political zones in the country, the South West “has the most sophisticated voters that cannot be bought or influenced by traditional rulers.”

He said, “In the South West, dollars will not impact much, but those who have stood by the Yorubas, who can be trusted, who can put Yoruba on the right pedestal. Integrity has electoral weight in Yoruba land.”

Omotola added that unless there were evidence on ground that the region would no longer be relegated in the country, the shifting of campaign machinery into South West to win votes would be “nothing, but an exercise in futility.”

He said, “If the president is sincere with the South West people, then what happened to key appointments like Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. Sovereign Wealth Fund, Debt Management Office, Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, among others?”

He explained that the support the president enjoyed from the South West in 2011, was because an average voter was able to connect with “his story of not having shoes to go to school. We connected with this story and we were inspired to vote for him.”

Omotola added, “Historically, the South West has not been a region that relies on government to survive. We have been trained and brought up to depend on our commerce and development of our economy. For politics, we engage those found to be a credible voice for justice and fairness.

“It is not expected that we have dissenting voices among us. It has been the case since the time of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”