President Goodluck Jonathan, leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governors and other big wigs of the party on Monday stormed Ilorin for a "Unity/Freedom Rally." Daily Trust x-rays the politics behind the rally.

For members of the PDP in Kwara State, the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan and other top echelons of the party was a significant milestone in their current struggle for what what they refer to as"freedom."

PDP members say the see the visit as a morale booster and a rally for the unification of all interest groups and individuals teaming up to wrestle political leadership from former Governor Bukola Saraki who has been dominating the politics of the state and who recently dumped the PDP for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP insisted on having the rally even when the APC called on it to shelve the event in honour of the victims of insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country. Rather than hearken to APC's call for the postponement of the rally, the PDP accused the APC of being panicky.

The disagreement by the two led to tension, anxiety and apprehension in the state as there were accusations and counter-accusations from the two parties claiming their billboards were being pulled down by the other party. While the APC was addressing a press conference that its billboards were being destroyed by the PDP with the connivance of the police, the PDP on its part was warning vociferously that it would not tolerate pulling down of its billboards especially the ones bearing Mr. President's images by any individual or organ of government as doing so amounts to treason, according to PDP interim chairman, Solomon Edoja.

Policemen on Saturday arrested some APC members as the command explained that it acted on intelligence report that the members were printing posters and billboards to deface those of the President.

The CP in a telephone chat with Daily Trust confirmed that APC members were actually arrested including the printer but added that they were released almost immediately after assuring the police that they had no intention of using the posters to deface those of Jonathan.

The war over posters was discernible in view of the impending visit of the President and the who is who in the ruling PDP as the PDP members in the state want to convince the President that the party remains alive and thriving in the state despite the defection of Saraki, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and other erstwhile leaders of the party to APC.

A day to the visit, Daily Trust correspondent observed that posters of PDP and APC were placed side by side especially where the President is expected to pass. On Monday morning however,  all the APC posters have been removed and replaced with those of PDP along Lagos road leading to the Emir's palace and Asa Dam road where the metropolitan square, venue of the PDP rally was located.

The tension and the anxiety notwithstanding the rally took place as scheduled. The state governor welcomed the President at the airport and returned to the Government House. From the airport, Jonathan proceeded straight to the Emir's palace where he paid homage to the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Zulu Gambari before heading to the Metropolitan Square for the business of the day.

But while the rally was going on, the state government held a separate event at the Government House where the Governor flagged-off a N150m empowerment programme for commercial transporters in the state. Though well attended, the event where 100 taxi cabs were distributed to transporters, did not compare in terms of crowd, with the tumultuous crowd that trooped out for the PDP rally.

Apart from the VIP pavilion, all the other six pavilions at the metropolitan square were filled to capacity with party members and supporters even as the open space could not contain the surging crowd.

The President arrived the venue at exactly 12 P.M. with members of his entourage including Vice-President Namadi Sambo, PDP national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, Board of Trustees' Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, Senate President David Mark, chairman of PDP Governors' Forum, Godswill Akpabio, Niger Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, Cross River governor, Liyel Imoke, Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, as well as deputy governors of Kogi and Sokoto states.

Others were Senators Barnabas Gemade, Ibrahim Mantu, Ben Obi, minister of sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, among others.

In his welcome address, chairman, caretaker committee of Kwara PDP,  Solomon Edoja said the event "marks a beginning in the lives of the people of Kwara State" whom he said have been yearning for freedom from poverty and impunity. He said contrary to belief outside Kwara, the state "is entirely a PDP state," assured that the party would win all elections in 2015.

Prominent among the defectors who were received by the national chairman and the President, were the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, Mr. Dele Belgore, his counterparts in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and Senator Gbemisola Rukayyat Saraki respectively.
Others were son of late former Governor Mohammed Lawal, Alhaji Hakeem Lawal, a chieftain of APC, Rev. Bunmi Olusona, and former CPC Senatorial candidate, Princess Bilikisu Gambari.

National chairman of the party, who invited the defectors out to speak one after the other, said this is a payback time for the opposition party which recently poached members of the PDP. He noted that the PDP had also started poaching and the outcome of the poaching had manifested in Kwara State, saying all the leaders of opposition in the last election in the state are now in PDP.

Muazu, who stressed that "Kwara is PDP and PDP is Kwara" urged the people of the state to vote for PDP in 2015 as they did in the last election to show the world the state is a PDP state."

He urged Saraki and his followers who defected to the APC to return, saying, "this is your home. I believe your spirit remains here". But his call on Saraki and others to return was greeted with a thunderous "NO" from the crowd even though the chairman pleaded with the supporters to forgive them.

"I want to welcome you back when you are ready. Unfortunately the people of Kwara state have decided today is their day of freedom. No shaking!" he added.
President Goodluck Jonathan who said the crowd was not up to the one that attended his 2011 campaign when he visited the state declared that Kwara people would be free after the rally. He maintained that PDP is the only party that can give people freedom, adding that it is only in PDP that an individual from a minority group like him could become the President of the country.

He said, "It is only PDP that can take this country to where we want to be and I say it without fear of any contradiction because it is only in PDP that people like me can come from nowhere and stand up and become President of this country. PDP is not owned by any individual or group of individuals. We don't have dictators in PDP. We have people who believe in the people, that is why in PDP we talk about one man, one vote.

No more imposition, no more godfatherism. If you are elected to do your work under the PDP, we give you the freedom to do your work without any molestation. I am a President now, I have a governor in my state, I have never controlled him because he was elected by Bayelsans, he has to serve Bayelsans and not Goodluck Jonathan".

Vice President Sambo, who recounted that the Federal Government has done a lot for the state especially in the areas of education and agriculture, as well as the rail revitalisation said the crowd at the rally was a clear indication of the transformation agenda under PDP.

But while the rally was going on, Governor Ahmed was at the empowerment programme attended by virtually all federal lawmakers in the House of Representatives from Kwara. The governor advised the PDP to wake up to the reality of their defection.

However, Saraki's sibling, Gbemi who was among the defectors received at the rally allayed fears that the coming together of opposition party would not yield result owing to individual ambitions as being insinuated, saying all of them had elected to put their individual desires at the back seat and forge a common tie towards delivering victory for the PDP come 2015 election.

Though the PDP seems to be overwhelmed by the massive crowd that witnessed the Monday rally, analysts say this should not be a determinant for who will emerge victorious in 2015 especially against the backdrop of insinuations that the crowd was rented. The 2015 election where the two parties would test their strength would actually show which of them has the electorate's support.