Former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo for the 2023 gubernatorial poll, Senator Teslim Folarin and former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Lai Olurode, on Friday, charged the electorate in the South West to shun apathy during 2023 elections.
They emphasised the critical need for all eligible voters to turn out massively and elect candidates of their choice for all elective positions, saying every stakeholder must endeavour to desist from violence and other inimical activities, capable of truncating peaceful election and transition of power.
The trio spoke at the 10th posthumous anniversary of the former governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina, which was held at Jogor Events Centre, Ibadan.
Osoba, who said Adesina left enduring legacies charged the electorate in the South West, political leaders and community heads to mobilise for active participation in the 2023 polls.
He stated: “I want to charge our people and political leaders in the South West on the need to actively participate in the next year’s elections. Two things drew me to Alhaji Lam Adesina. They are his virtuous or Omoluabi ethos and contentment. His position among the disciples of our iconic leader and sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo remain great.”
In his lecture titled: “10 Years After Great Lam: “The Political Landscape in Nigeria”, Olurode said Nigerians, most especially the electorate in the South must ensure massive participation in the 2023 election by shunning vote apathy and avoid any form of violence. ”
He also hinted that the challenges of grazing routes for Fulani herders in some parts of the country and the Federal Government policy over the issue should be frontally addressed to end the deadly clashes between farmers and herders.
Olurode recalled how late Adesina expressed his disgust against the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari when he led a Fulani delegation to his office in the year 2000 over a herders-farmers clash in Oke Ogun region of Oyo State, where many Yoruba farmers were murdered.
In the same vein, Folarin, who is the state standard bearer of the APC in the forthcoming governorship poll, called on the electorate to turn out en masse and vote for his party’s presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all other candidates on the platform of the ruling party.
However, while addressing the crowd at the event, Oyo State deputy governor, Barrister Bayo Lawal, who represented Governor Seyi Makinde declared that his principal would secure a second term in office through his rising popularity among the masses, just as he assured that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would always support the conduct of a peaceful and credible election.
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Osoba, Folarin, Olurode task South West to shun apathy, violence
