Date: 2018-08-21

The re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari received a boost yesterday as a prominent first class traditional ruler in Kwara State and Etsu Patigi, Alhaji Ibrahim Chatta Umar, declared support for the president.

Umar, who is also the Vice-Chairman, State Council of Chiefs, said the decision to support President Buhari was in line with the resolve of the elders while the youth also followed suit.

The monarch spoke while receiving hundreds of youth in his Palace in Patigi Local Government Area, who staged a solidarity rally for continuation of Buhari in office beyond 2019.

At the rally were founder of Community Outreach, Advocacy and Capacity Building and Health (COACH), Aisha Ahman Pategi, and Coordinator of Buhari Campaign Organisation in Patigi Local Government Area, Comrade Yusuf Jimoh.

President Buhari had declared his intention to recontest in the forthcoming 2019 general elections. The Etsu Patigi, who addressed Journalists shortly after receiving the crowd, said the elders in the ancient town decided to support the president on accounts of his performance. He said Buhari endeared himself to the heart of the people due to the ongoing construction of Patigi Federal road, which had been abandoned for 20 years. The monarch added that the present administration within three years had undertaken the road project and it was normal for people to reward such gesture with loyalty.

"The youths are following the elders here. The elders had already decided for sometime now that they are going with the present regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, having seen what he has done and what he is about to do. For that reason and being part of our culture, our youths normally follow the elders, and I have nothing to say. The elders have already decided and the youths, the players on the ground, they had followed suit.

"So, as their paramount leader, it is now to re-echo what they have said and then to thank them for that, and then to reassure them that whatever they are going to do, they should do it peacefully and go about their normal duties. Politics is about persuasion.

"In politics, you are to persuade people, you don't fight people. If you are looking for members, you persuade them to join you. We as traditional rulers, we are for everybody. But in particular, we are for our own people. So, if our own people decide to go this way, definitely, we would not go the other way.

"So, we pray that what they are coming with, God will bless it and make it be the right way. Insha Allah come 2019, we shall see more dividends of democracy in Patigi so that they who are on ground now to enjoy the dividends of democracy, will be able to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

"(The ongoing construction of Paitigi Road from Gbugbu), in fact, that is the main reason that President Muhammadu Buhari has caught the minds of the people of this area. Because this road has been there for more than 20 years under disrepair.

"Now, somebody is coming under three years and they are seeing changes. They are the people going up and down doing their businesses and doing their farming work and other activities. So, they need good roads and they add more to it. Both here and the other site over to River Niger. They are sure President Muhammadu Buhari is going to do it. So, this road is too important to us, that is the only link to us to the state capital. And the other road I said to you, is the only shortrer link to Abuja.

"So, we need both and we are sure by the grace of God, the President will do something about it. If he does that, he should be reassured that the youths who are the people enjoying it.. That is what is gingering them and energising them to go for Buhari. Something there for 20 years, no repair and then eventually he has come. As a human being, they have to do something. So, that is exactly what I think they have done and the elders concurred", Etsu Patigi said.

The founder of Community Outreach, Advocacy and Capacity Building and Health (COACH), Aisha Ahman Pategi and Coordinator of Buhari Campaign Organisation in Patigi Local Government Area, Comrade Yusuf Jimoh, who also spoke to Journalists, said the community was supporting Buhari because of his integrity and transparency. They added that community was appreciative of the federal government with the ongoing road project and N-Power scheme, which has provided jobs for over 200 indigenes of Patigi.