It was expression of nostalgic feelings yesterday for the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Sen. Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II as he played host to the Presidential aspirant of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the former Governor of Kano State, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Oba Balogun, who once worked as a Research Fellow at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and served as a Director of Kano-owned Triumph Newspaper told his guest of his close relationship with the late Alhaji Aminu Kano, late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and late Alhaji Balarabe Musa.
It would be recalled that the late Aminu Kano founded the defunct People’s Redemption Party (PRP) under which both late Rimi and Musa won elections as Governors of both Kano and Kaduna States respectively and it was through the same party the Olubadan cut his political teeth.
Recalling that he had always been very close with the trio of Kano, Rimi and Musa right from his studentship days in the United Kingdom, the monarch said the presidential aspirant was very much at home as he prayed for his success both at his party’s primary election and the main election in 2023.
Sen. Kwankwaso in his brief remark noted the contributions of Olubadan to the country’s political development since his entry into the game in 1983 when Oba Balogun contested the old Oyo State governorship election under the banner of the defunct Nigeria People’s Party (NPP) after defecting from the PRP.
He noted that “the coming into existence of the NNPP which is an off-shoot of the old NPP during the reign of Your Imperial Majesty is a divine arrangement. Our party is imbued with ideas and people to drive the agenda for a new Nigeria where there would be life abundance for all, irrespective of status, religion, race or creed”.
The Kano-born Senator and two-term governor of Kano State however called on Nigerians to take serious the issue of registration and collection of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) with which they would cast their votes for the party when election comes, adding, “the expected change can only be effected through our votes which our PVCs would enable us to do”.
The party’s governorship aspirant in the state, Engr. Popoola Olukayode Joseph (POJ), while reiterating the importance of PVC said, “everybody is quite aware of what is going on in the state which doesn’t make people happy. We want peace in the state and that’s what our party would pursue. To realize that, we need the people’s votes which only the PVC can guarantee”.
