The Yoruba Leadership and Peace Initiative (TYLPI), a socio-cultural group and think-tank, has urged the people of Osun State to go to the polls on September 22, 2018 to elect a new Executive Governor and make the exercise a watershed in the history of elections in the State and Nigeria as a whole.

In a press release made available to the media in Ibadan on Tuesday, TYLPI stated that the governorship election offers an opportunity for the country to showcase to the world that she is capable of organising free, fair, credible and transparent elections devoid of violence, malpractices and manipulation of results.

TYLPI wants INEC to reassure the nation of a credible election next Saturday, warning that “vote buying” that marred the July 14 Ekiti governorship poll, must not be permitted to rear up its ugly head. “The vote buying episode in Ekiti is an ugly chapter in Nigeria’s electoral history that has made the country a laughing stock before the whole world”.

The group, in the statement signed by its General Secretary, Mr. Femi Adefemiwa and Chairman, Publicity Committee, Sir Folu Olamiti, urged all stakeholders to put an end to all ignoble traits and shenanigans witnessed in the Ekiti exercise.

Reviewing political developments in the country, TYLPI deplores the perceived do-or die attitude of politicians to cling to or gain power, describing such desperation as unduly overheating the polity and distracting from meaningful governance and development in the society.

It alleges that the flexing of muscles by political parties to deploy their political machineries including presidential aspirants and chieftains into Osun State ahead the elections is capable of creating a repeat of what happened in the July 14 Ekiti governorship election, and could lead to breakdown of law and order capable of threatening the country’s fragile unity and stability.

While calling on security agencies to be alert to nip any trouble in the bud, TYLPI urges restraint by all parties and cautions the people of the state against being used to cause chaos. “We in Yorubaland are proud of our heritage as the bastion of democrats. We are conscious of our history and the primal role this region plays.”

The group reminds political gladiators that past ugly political events, which had grave consequences on national stability and shaped the country’s narratives, started from the South West from where it spread and later engulfed other parts of the country. Nigerians, it says, should now chart a new electoral direction by playing by the rules and avoid vile campaigns and electoral malpractices.

The group also urges the Osun electorate to vote wisely and not mortgage their franchise, stressing: “They should go out to elect credible leaders who could improve their living conditions and guarantee better future for their offspring.

TYLPI calls on INEC to “leverage on new technological innovations including improving on performance of card readers, as well as raise the level of preparations so far witnessed in the off-season elections and bye-elections it has conducted so far in Kogi, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo and Anambra states.” Specifically, TYLPI urges the electoral umpire to devise new strategies that will checkmate the vote buying syndrome said to have been carried out in full glare of security agents and INEC officials at polling booths in Ekiti.

TYLPI also demands that security agents should discharge their assignment in a professional and impartial manner that would not leave room to doubt their neutrality during the exercise.

It also urged government to ensure a level playing field for all candidates and put in place effective remedies for violations of citizens’ election-related rights, as well as timely procedures to bring to account those who conduct criminal acts that violate electoral-related rights.

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