By Banji Ayoola
Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, the umbrella body for all Nigeria’s registered political parties, has called on the people of Ondo State to come out en masse on Saturday and peacefully vote for their preferred candidate.
It appealed to politicians in the state to desist from perpetrating violent acts before, during and after the election.
Its National Chairman, Dr Leonard Nzenwa, who addressed the press on Thursday at the Democracy Park in Akure, the state capital, after a road show, urged the people to surpass the feat recorded recently in the neighbouring Edo State governorship election in terms of turnout, peaceful conduct and success recorded.
The road show kicked off at the A Division on the ever busy Adesida road and terminated at the park.
In his speech, Nzenwa urged eligible voters “to prove a point that they are not only the sunshine state of Nigeria but also the political sunshine abode of the country.
His words: “The happiest thing that Ondo people would bequeath to Nigerians this period is to ensure that they outnumber voters who participated in the Edo polls while voting peacefully.
“IPAC deplores the shootings over the weekend along Oba Adesida Road and Oba nla areas in Akure, Ondo State capital and some other parts of the state by youths alleged to be members of two political parties contesting the Saturday gubernatorial polls.
“This undignified act is condemned in its strongest terms even as we demand that perpetrators of this act are arrested by law enforcement agencies, prosecuted and punished maximally.
“We caution all political parties, their candidates and supporters to desist from thuggery, brigandage, killings as the era of do-or-die politics is over in Nigeria.
“The peace signing accord ceremony carried out in the week by the gubernatorial candidates with their respective political parties state chairmen and supervised by the National Peace Committee and other well meaning Nigerians is indicative of the resolve of all to work to ensure that free, fair, credible and peaceful polls holds on Saturday.
“We must distinguish between the ballot and blood and penalize unpatriotic politicians who willfully set out to arm vulnerable youths to maim and kill when many of their children are not resident in the country.
“We do not have the luxury to repeat errors of the past such that dragged us into garrison politics. This must be resisted and shunned by Ondo people and Nigerians.
“Ondo people cannot in 2020 re-enact the spiteful Omoboriowo murderous electoral warfare neither would they allow the spirit of Operation wetie famed to have quacked the political and physical foundation of the old Western Region to overwhelm them now.
“The remarkable progress made in Edo State gubernatorial election generally celebrated for being free, fair, credible and peaceful must be surpassed in terms of number, credibility and acceptance.
“IPAC, conscious of its mandate to ensure it works to provide condu”cive environment for elections in the country values human life and its dignity and restates that a single life lost is too much a waste and price to pay for an election whose term would be renewed in less than four years time.
“It’s only the living that can be alive to vote.
“We call on security agencies to be extra vigilant to deal decisively with those who break the rule of the election on Saturday.
“We look forward to a peaceful poll on Saturday as we congratulate Ondo people in advance.”
During the question and answer session, Nzenwa said: “This is a very important occasion to ensure that we have a peaceful election on Saturday. We have been here for the past one week trying to sensitise, reach out to all stakeholders to ensure that the electorate come out en masse to participate in this election.
“It is also part of the responsibility of the media to play their role professionally, objectively and independently to ensure that we have a peaceful, free, fair and credible election on Saturday.
“Anybody caught in the act of perpetrating electoral violence, the law enforcement agencies should apprehend such persons, prosecute them and the maximal sentence be imposed on them.
“There is no time for us for excuse in condoning this kind of rascality. There is something we call blood votes. If we see any blood vote in Ondo, you are not only destroying the integrity of the people of this state, you tarnish and damage the success recorded in Edo state.”
He appealed that the Press should help disseminate information to all stakeholders.
According to him, “So far we have seen the efforts made here. I understand the police have over 300,000 workforce here and then combined security agencies in this place. You have the army and paramilitary troops.
“It is not about these but about the character of the Nigerian people and Ondo person to make sure that we have peace in the history of this country.”
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