About 11,226 personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) are for deployment to all the 31 local government areas to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of Osun Governorship election on Saturday.

The Commandant-General of the Corps, Dr Ahmed Audi, gave approval for the deployment for effective coverage and manning of polling units, collation centres and protection of critical national assets before, during and after the elections.

Ahmed enjoined the personnel to work hand in hand with other security agencies to forestall any form of unrest or breach of the peace in the 3,763 polling units throughout the 31 local councils.

In a statement by Director of Public Relations of the Corps, Olusola Odumosu, the Commandant-General said the deployed personnel were drawn from the national headquarters and nine State Commands of Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Kwara, Kogi and Edo.

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He said: “The CG stated that the objectives of the Corps in the forthcoming election is to create a secured environment for its successful conduct and enhance the general security in the State before, during and after the election.

“He explained that personnel had attended various workshops on best practices during election.

“They have also been acquainted with the provisions of the Electoral Act as regards to Rules of Engagement, hence, must comply with the Corps’ Operational Code, Standard Operating Procedure and above all, display of professionalism and high sense of discipline throughout the election.

“This robust operational order has been activated to ensure a hitch free exercise and guide against molestation and intimidation of the electorates by hoodlums or party thugs.

“Dr Audi hinted that, in readiness for the election, the Corps’ undercover personnel from the National Headquaters have joined their counterparts in Osun State for covert operations to nip any security compromise in the bud.”

The NSCDC boss said Deputy Commandant General (DCG) in charge of Operations, Dauda Mungadi would oversee the election exercise.

By Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja and Toba Adedeji

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Iyorchia Ayu will today lead the charge in Osogbo, to drum support for the governorship candidate, Ademola Adeleke.

The mega rally, which is coming ahead of Saturday’s election, will also feature the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

A statement said ‘Ayu will be leading Adeleke’s renewed charge for the Government House, alongside the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his running-mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.”

The statement added that governors elected on the platform of the party and other leaders will also attend the rally.

Ayu was quoted to have urged stakeholders, party faithful and residents to come out en mass to grace the mega-rally.

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“I charge every lover of democracy and good governance to come out and identify with the PDP candidate, Senator Adeleke. He is the face of positive change,” he noted.

Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ifeanyi Okowa, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal and his Bayelsa State counterpart Douye Diri yesterday met with former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun) and Dotun Babayemi’s faction for reconciliation.

The Nation gathered that the three governors met with the aggrieved party members and elders, including PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest) Soji Adagunodo, Senator Olu Alabi, BoT member Shuaib Oyedokun, and members of PDP across the 30 local governments at the house of Olu-Alabi.

Sources said Okowa appealed to the aggrieved members and elders to support the party despite ill-fighting.

Also, Diri apologised to the aggrieved elders for coming for reconciliation a day to the party’s mega rally in Osun.

Babayemi’s media aide, Kayode Oladeji, confirmed the development in a statement. He said: “Oyinlola, responding on behalf of the aggrieved members, said: “Today marks a positive turning point in the history of PDP, it is said that there’s no smoke without fire. The Vice President and three other governors have listened to us and have promised us immediate action.

“As leaders, be assured that we will not fail your aspirations. PDP is the party the masses are yearning for; they have tasted two wives and they know which is better. Rest assured you will not be short-changed.”

Twelve governorship candidates contesting in Saturday’s election yesterday signed the peace accord while three were absent.

At the signing were Governor Adegboyega Oyetola (APC); Ademola Adeleke (PDP); Adeleke Masilo (Boot Party); Ademola Adeseye (YPP) and Femi Adesuyi of ZLP, among others.

Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Lasun Yusuf; Accord Party Akin Ogunbiyi and Social Democratic Party (SDP) Goke Omigbodun were absent.

Bishop Matthew Kukah, a member of the National Peace Commitee (NCP), convener of the peace accord, lamented that many Nigerians see the programme as a mere formality.

He said: “I fear that for many Nigerians, the work of the peace committee is seen as a mere formality, wondering whether the political actors who append their signatures to this process are really very serious to appreciate the weight of the duty and responsibilities we are undertaking.

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“I will like to say that the sheer presence of INEC officials, his royal majesty, and all of us here who represent Nigeria, suggest that we really and truly take this symbolic commitment to democracy very serious.

“The signing of this National peace accord is something that I think will focus more on its symbolic gesture. But the second phase which we need to begin to interrogate is beyond just having a peaceful election, it is that Nigerians are desperately in need of the peaceful environment around which to function.”

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu lauded the contribution of NPC to the sanctity of the electoral process since 2015 that it was initiated.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, vowed that traditional rulers will provide enabling environment that will aid violence-free election. He thus encouraged voters to come out massively to vote for the candidate of their choice.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Johnson Kokumo said: “We will improve on what we did in Ekiti so that posterity will judge us. I want to assure all the contestants of adequate security during the poll, and promise that we will tackle any threat to the election process.”

Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) Elder Tunde Adedeji has described the campaign of calumny against Governor Adegboyega Oyetola about workers’ welfare as mischievous.

Adedeji warned politicians embarking on cheap blackmail to desist from such as he scored Oyetola high on infrastructural development during his first term.

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A statement by Adedeji said: “Anyone saying that prompt payment of salary, pension and gratuities by Mr Governor are not achievements is either irresponsibly ignorant or satanically mischievous. The request the government has always been making from the workers is to be diligent in their duties, honest and loyal to the government and people of Osun State.”

Adedeji admonished residents to protect their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ahead of Saturday’s election, and enjoined them to troop out in their large numbers and cast their votes for Governor Oyetola.

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi yesterday stormed Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to rally support for the governorship candidate, Lasun Yusuf.

Obi, at the rally, said: “We want to recover your future, they have no job, no food, your children are not in school, their children are schooling overseas, this is the time for you to recover Nigeria; this is the time for you to take back Nigeria. They owe salaries and pensions, those people working hard have not been paid.

“Somebody said they will labour till death, when they talk like that, when they show you hatred, LP will show them love, there is dignity in labour. LP said we want to move Nigeria from consumption to production, you cannot do production without labour, so there is dignity in labour and those who have laboured will get their reward, that is what we want to do in Nigeria, we don’t want monkey to work again, bamboo go chop.

Read Also: Adeleke shuns debate as Oyetola, Lasun, others present manifesto

“Vote for LP so that your children can have a job, vote for people that will work for you. We want to change Nigeria, and the only way we can change Nigeria is to remove all these people who have put Nigeria to where it is in the last 23 years. This is time for them to go, 23 years no road, no school no water no food no light, they must go.”

Similarly, Lasun said: “I read something that I’ll not get votes, but it will shock them. Saturday is here already. Hope you heard they invaded my house with guns. If truly they came to my house the first time, if truly they came to my house and I’m inside with my family, everyone involved in the attack and we’re now saying in the news that I am lying, I put them in God’s hands and their generations.

“Politics is about your capacity to articulate your position and your intention to serve the people. But they are not serving us. Vote for Labour Party.”

A Civil Society organisation, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has said anybody who will lead the state must be one with strong mental alertness, high capacity for fiscal management, and a strong capacity to deliver success despite serious limitations of resources.

The Executive Director, Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, while addressing reports yesterday, maintained that Osun is in a critical time and needs a visionary leader.

He said: “We advise the people to pay attention to the record of each of the candidates presenting themselves for election. Osun is at a time in her history when we cannot afford to gamble with leadership. We cannot afford to hand the state over to charlatans at this critical period.

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“Citizens must therefore interrogate the plans and programmes of each of the candidates, and decide the best person in whose hands they feel the state will be safest. It is not a time for irrelevant emotions; it is a time for deep reflection and rejection of any candidate that lacks the understanding of the issues at hand and the best way to manage them.

“We are aware of the narratives by supporters of some of the candidates. Understanding the incompetence of their candidates, these supporters are spinning the narrative that if they win, they will ensure that they constitute cabinets made of accomplished individuals to run government. This is not only dangerous for our state presently as leadership demands a top-bottom approach, it is also dangerous for the future of the state as it sets a bad precedence for quality of leadership.

“We must vote for candidates with proven capacity first, who can provide visionary leadership and then ensure they bring on board equally capable members of cabinet when they eventually get into office. We cannot afford to vacate the need for high mental capacity in the person who would head the government.”

National Chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Yabagi Sani has urged candidates to resist temptation to deploy thugs and induce security operatives during Saturday’s election.

Sani spoke yesterday at a stakeholders’ meeting at the Atlantis Civic Event center in Osogbo. He warned against the desperation of politicians to compromise at any state of the electoral process.

The IPAC chairman also said his men and other members of the council will embark on street campaign and share flayers to residents to educate them on the need for free and fair election.

Read Also: APC dismisses PDP’s thugs claims

He said: “The party leaders and candidates in the election must resist the temptation, out of desperation, to deploy thugs or material and financial inducement of security agents and INEC officials to compromise any stage in the voting process. We are also very stridently appealing to the security agencies and their operatives to perform their assignment with maximum professional and ethical standards.”

Sani added that political parties and their candidates must, solemnly and willingly, commit themselves to avoiding all manners of actions that can trigger violence or compromise the credibility and integrity of the exercise.

“Electorate must resist all attempts to be deceived, intimidated or induced into compromising their fundamental, inalienable right to freely elect the political leaders of their choice.”

Hotel accommodations in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, have become scarce ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who visited some hotels in Osogbo yesterday said most rooms in several hotels were already booked by political party officials, NGOs, government officials and key actors participating in the election. Prices have also increased.

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At Leisure Spring Hotel along Dele-yes sir, a receptionist said they had no vacant rooms. Also at Ideal Nest Hotel, a receptionist said all rooms had been booked. According to him, politicians and dignitaries had been coming from Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Ekiti and other places for the election.

He said: “These people’s representatives come to pay for their reservation even before their arrival, making all our rooms fully booked ahead of Saturday’s election.”

An Islamic organisation, Hasibunallahu, has endorsed governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Akin Ogunbiyi.

Similarly, the Alumni Association of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), also backed the Ogunbiyi and his deputy, Alhaji Kunle Jimoh.

A statement by the Chairman and Amir of Hasibunallahu, Jimoh Olawale, noted that its members have resolved to vote for Ogunbiyi.

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The statement reads: “We, the members of Hasibunallahu prayer group at home and in Diaspora, have resolved to back the gubernatorial ambition of Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi and his Deputy Governorship candidate, Kunle Jimoh. “We pledge our unflinching support towards their aspiration and have resolved to vote for them on July 16.”

Also, a statement by the President and Secretary of the UNN alumni association (Osun Chapter), Ogunbamiwo Henry and Chief Adegoke A O, said the decision to support Accord was taken at its July 4 meeting after a critical analysis of the ongoing electioneering campaigns.