Governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola has cautioned members of the opposition parties in the state to desist from making comments capable of inciting the public and instigating violence, before and during the governorship poll, scheduled for July 16, 2022.
This was contained in a statement released on Wednesday by Ismail Omipidan, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor.
Omipidan said Oyetola disclosed this while receiving a delegation of the British High Commission, in Osogbo, the State capital.
He said his administration worked hard to maintain the tempo of peace in the state through the implementation of people-centered policies and programmes that had impacted positively on the lives of the people.
Oyetola, however, expressed displeasure over the inflammatory comments credited to the governorship candidate of the main opposition party saying such unguided tantrums could trigger violence and cause havoc on the peaceful atmosphere reigning in the State.
He then enjoined the local and international electoral observers, particularly the British High Commission to watch the opposition parties closely because of the unfolding events.
“By the look of things, it has shown clearly that we’re the party to beat anytime, any day. With God on our side, we are confident of victory. God has been so merciful and supportive of our administration, and we have seen the light of this as it has been evident in all we do. To us, we believe there should be a free, fair, and credible election because we are there to ensure a good standard.
“My only concern has to do with the attitude of the opposition parties particularly the Peoples Democratic Party in terms of preaching violence when they go out for campaign with words like fire for fire and one of them recently said they will use bombs freely during the election, those statements as we all know can incite people and cause unnecessary violence.
“But because we are organised people and lovers of peace, we didn’t look at their threatening comments but rather continue to preach peace. We are a people of peace and we are a government that treasures peace and nothing can make us compromise this,” Oyetola concluded.
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Mr. Wale Adebayo, said they were in the state on a pre-election visit as part of efforts to assess and measure the level of readiness and preparation of the political parties, their candidates, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agents among other concerned authorities.
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