Rauf Aregbesola, minister of interior, has sued for a
“peaceful and fair” voting exercise at the ongoing All Progressives Congress
(APC) gubernatorial primary election in Osun state.
The minister said this in a statement released on Saturday.
Osun APC has been splintered into two factions.
One faction pledged loyalty to the minister while the other
belonged to the camp of Gboyega Oyetola, governor of the state.
Aregbesola and his faction backed Moshood Adeoti, a former
secretary to the state government, for the next governorship election.
The crisis caused anxiety among members of the ruling party
in the state.
However, in his statement, Aregbesola appealed “to all our
party members to participate and be peacefully in the primary election”.
He added that “peaceful coexistence, therefore, supersedes
every other activity.”
“Another electoral cycle has rolled by, and we are now in
that season again in Osun. We should thank God for the democratic right to
participate in the electoral process of electing our leaders,” the statement
read.
“As you all know, this is a two-staged process. The first is
intra-party, meaning that our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will
democratically nominate its candidate. The second stage, inter-party, will take
place in a state-wide election sometime in July, God willing.
“For this first stage, I am appealing to all our party
members to participate, but peacefully in the primary election taking place
today. They should avoid any form of violence, brigandage and disorderliness.
“Our party members,
especially our supporters, should be resolute to cast their vote, not to be
intimidated and scared away. But they should portray themselves and the party
in the best form in comportment, organisation and promotion of societal peace
and tranquillity.
“You should know that we are first a community of humans
before we are a political community. Our peaceful coexistence, therefore,
supersedes every other activity.
“The Nigerian and our party’s constitutions make provision
for the expression of our preference and choice of leader every four years.
This is the heart of the democratic process. It is an inalienable right we
should take as sacred and exercise with every sense of responsibility.
“I am also appealing to our members to push out the women
and let them lead the process by coming out decently and peacefully. This is to
demonstrate the customary dignity of women as matriarchs, mothers, wives and
daughters, which confers on them the special protection status from violent
attacks from thugs and hoodlums.
“Our overall
objective is to have a transparent, free, fair and peaceful election. I wish us
all a peaceful, free, fair and successful primary election. I thank you all.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com