Tinubu, Akande, Ajimobi, others visit Alaafin, pledge to re-build burnt palace

Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Wednesday visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III to sympathize with him over the fire that recently gutted a section of his palace, promising that the party would rally support for the monarch to rebuild the burnt palace.

The ACN leaders included the National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, National Vice Chairman, South-West and Alhaji Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary.

“The most unfortunate thing has happened, and we are here to sympathize with our history. We sympathize with the people of Oyo as the custodian of the great history of the Yoruba race,'' Tinubu told Alaafin.

He said that the party would do everything possible to keep the beauty of culture and modern essence of the palace and its history.

“We will all come together to give the Alaafin a befitting palace that will be a mix of the history, culture and the tradition of the Yoruba race,'' the former Lagos State Governor said.

Also speaking, the National Chairman of the party, Chief Akande described the inferno as most unfortunate, pledging that his party was solidly behind royal father in his efforts at re-building the burnt palace.

Governor Ajimobi, in his own remark, acknowledged the cooperation and support of Oba Adeyemi to his administration as well as his commitment to the growth and development of Yorubaland.

Oba Adeyemi expressed appreciation to the visiting ACN leaders and Governor Ajimobi, who he said was the first person to pay him a sympathy visit immediately the incident occurred.

“I want to testify before all of you that Governor Ajimobi has been doing very well. He accords due respect to the traditional institution. Some say he is stubborn but I love it like that; some say he is stingy, I like it like that. He has done wonderfully well,'' he remarked.

The monarch said that the palace would be given a new design to symbolize the contributions and support of the Ajimobi administration to the traditional institution.

Tinubu, later in an interview, confirmed the ongoing merger plan among the ACN, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), stressing that the arrangement would be concluded in June.

He said that various committees had been set up to fine tune the merger plan, adding that the committees had also been divided into sub-committees to consider substances like name, logo, manifesto and the constitution of the mega-party.

He expressed optimism that the arrangement would work out and that it would put the opposition in a better stead to dislodge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.