A group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), has concluded arrangement to drag all the governorship candidates in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the State before the anti-graft agencies such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for scrutiny on financial corruption and other related matters.

It, however, stated that its action became imperative in order to ensure that the unblemished and corrupt free personality emerges as the next governor of the state, urging the authority of the anti-graft agencies to be ready to do their constitutional responsibilities without fear or favour.

It supported its argument with the Chapter 7 section 38 sub-section 1 of the EFCC Act, Section 6 of the ICPC act and Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

The civil group said it has set standards for whoever emerged as governorship candidate in each of the political parties contesting the September 22 governorship election in the state, disclosing its readiness to screen all the candidates that would emerge after the parties’ primaries, to enable the electorates to choose the best out of them.

Addressing newsmen at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Osogbo, on Monday, its Chairman, CSCEOS, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, alleged that Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration has been financially reckless, thus leading to over N2.3 billion monthly deductions from the federal allocation to service the State’s debt.

According to him, “Mindful of the fact that only an astute, earnest, diligent, frugal, humane, selfless, self-sacrificing, upright and law-abiding persons can steer the ship of the State to the bank of recovery and financial buoyancy.

“Acknowledging that the only way Osun people can liberate themselves from the shackles of political subjugation and economic penury is by wadding off the sharks and devourers from the electoral process.

“In as much as we know that it is the political parties that constitutionally possess the power to present governorship candidate out of which the electorates will pick their choices from, the CSCEOS see it as a duty to ensure that a template is set out for the kind of individuals we expect these parties to present,” Sulaiman noted.

“The CSCEOS is, therefore, seeking for the ‘Original Omoluabi’ to lead the state out of the financial mess it was dragged into by the current administration and set her on a path of sustainable, human, and fiscal development,” he declared.

The group also threatened to drag any candidate that induce people with money to the anti-graft agencies to explain the source of his wealth, adding that the governorship candidate must show his frugality in private and public life.

According to CSCEOS, part of the pre-qualification for the candidates is to provide evidence of his past community development in the State, and be prepared to have all his past activities, businesses and transactions subjected to investigation and scrutiny. “Besides, the CSCEOS will conduct a non-party independently investigation and screening for all the governorship candidates who emerged through the party primaries and appropriately come out with our findings,” the group said.

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