Oyo traders, artisans rally support for Ajimobi

Traders, artisans as well as students from some tertiary institutions in Oyo State mobilized  their members recently and staged a peaceful rally in support of Governor Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi’s policies. They  called  on labour leaders in the state to urgently  dialogue with the government to resolve the impasse over non-payment of salaries. As early as […]

Traders, artisans as well as students from some tertiary institutions in Oyo State mobilized  their members recently and staged a peaceful rally in support of Governor Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi’s policies.

They  called  on labour leaders in the state to urgently  dialogue with the government to resolve the impasse over non-payment of salaries.
As early as 9 o’clock in the morning, the supporters, numbering about 50,000, made up of members of about 168 trade associations across the 33 local government areas of the state had converged on the historic Mapo Hall, Ibadan, from where they moved through the city, drumming support for the governor and his policies.
As the crowd moved through the popular Beere/Oje/Agodi Road, they were joined by other independent supporters until they got to the State Secretariat Complex, Agodi, where the governor addressed them and also waved an olive branch to the striking workers, urging them to come for dialogue which he described as an element of democracy.
As Governor Ajimobi appeared, his praises rented the air with people responding to the music to tunes being rendered by the Ibadan based Fuji musician, Rashidi Ayinde, who was also part of the rallying group.
Leaders of five unions took their turn to address the crowd, and commended the governor for his efforts on restoring peace to the state. They also hailed his school management initiative which had been misinterpreted as selling public schools, stressing that they had sought facts about the initiative and found that that it was a good way to rescue dwindling standards in the public school system.
Speaking on behalf of canteen operators in the state, Mrs Iyadunni Lawal, who is the president of the association, said all residents and voters are stakeholders in Oyo State. She emphasized that the association was interested in peace and harmony between the government and workers.
“Let all stakeholders sit down and resolve all issues amicably.
All of us voted. We are all stakeholders. All we want is peace and progress in the state. Let workers dialogue with the government so there will be progress and our children will return to school,” she said.
Addressing the crowd,  Ajimobi explained that he was committed to his campaign promises. As a way of initiating a discussion process, he said the government invited labour as a stakeholder to the first meeting but that some labour leaders chose to disrupt the meeting in a violent way.
Ajimobi vowed to sustain his administration’s achievement on peace and emphasized that he would continue to encourage every democratic means of governing the state.
He blamed the opposition for sponsoring lies against him on the initiative and condemned teachers for setting children on the streets to start destroying public property.