7th January, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi has vowed to withdraw his support for President Muhammadu Buhari and join critics of his administration if his Iwo town is deprived of the Federal College of Education recently approved for Osun State.
The monarch, in a statement on Monday, disclosed that taking the proposed higher institution to another town other than Iwo “is tantamount to betrayal of unalloyed support” he had given Buhari’s government since he became Oluwo in 2016.
Oluwo who is among a few traditional rulers in the country who publicly identified with President Buhari during election periods recalled how he had organized special prayer for improved health condition while President Buhari was recuperating in the United Kingdom.
Oba Akanbi said: “I am saying it with authority that I control the direction to which my people’s votes go during elections because my people love me with passion. They know I also love them with passion.
“So, they listen to me when election’s matter comes. They demonstrated this during the 2019 elections when we delivered bloc votes for the ruling government.”
“In other words, I can tell them to change their vote pattern, and they won’t look back. President should know that one good turn deserves another.
“The history is there to know that Iwo is home for the progressives. During the 1983 elections, my people stuck out their neck for Chief Bola Ige and lost some of them during the clash which followed.
“I am calling on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Chief Bisi Akande, Ogbeni Rauf Aeregbesola and Governor Gboyega Oyetola to ensure justice is done on this matter and give my town the federal government college,” the statement reads.