A group, Friends of Bayo Adelabu Campaign Organisation (FOBACO), has expressed worry over the rising wave of violence trailing political campaigns ahead of the coming elections in Oyo State.
The group, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Dr Bayo Busari and made available to TribuneOnline, on Tuesday, condemned the recourse to violence by politicians, admonishing that they cannot govern over the dead.
The admonition was on the heels of the violent attack, last Saturday, on the campaign train of the state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bayo Adelabu, in Igbo Ora, with several people sustaining various degrees of injury.
The group, in the statement, called on the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to raise the bar in securing the state in order to consolidate on his achievement in the last seven and half years.
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Calling on the state Commissioner of Police to beef up security around all the candidates in the coming elections, it added, āWe equally call on our elders across the state as well as religious leaders to help preach peace among their followers and adherents.
āIt is instructive to note that Oyo State has been enjoying relative security of life and property. We should not allow partisan politics to rob us of the peace that we have been enjoying.
āWe call on the Commissioner of Police of Oyo State to invite all the candidates participating in the elections to sign a peace accord as part of the effort to ensure peace before, during and after the elections.
“We also charge election-related monitoring bodies and other critical stakeholders to be up and doing in drawing attention to politicians encouraging violence,” the statement read.
The group also called on the people not to allow themselves to be used by politicians as canon fodder in the elections, noting that the elections would come and go, but peace should be maintained at all times.