The Labor Party was conspicuously absent from the Osogbo peace deal meeting venue on Wednesday, when 13 political parties signed an agreement for the peaceful conduct of Osun’s gubernatorial election on Saturday.
Some of the parties that attended were the Congress of all progressives (APC), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and Alianza en Acción (AA).
Among those absent were the Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party and the People’s Redemption Party.
Oyewole Oladimeji, the spokesman for the Labor Party in the state, told PREMIUM TIMES that the party’s gubernatorial candidate was absent from the peace deal meeting because he was hosting his presidential candidate, Peter Obi, at a rally in Osogbo.
“Today was our mega rally and Peter Obi was present, you can’t neglect such a person,” Oladimeji said.
“If state security didn’t take pity on him for the shooting at his house, he should know they have ulterior motives.”
Gunmen attacked the home of Labor Party gubernatorial candidate Yusuf Lasun in the early hours of 11 July, firing shots at his building and breaking glass windows.
Nobody was hurt in the incident.
The Osun state government, while denying that supporters of Governor Gboyega Oyetola had carried out the attack, called on the police to arrest the perpetrators.
peace agreement
Speaking at the peace ceremony organized by the National Peace Committee in Osogbo, Matthew Kukah urged all political parties participating in the elections to work for peace.
Kukah, a Catholic bishop, said that Nigeria needs a peaceful environment and thus the need to encourage political actors to think about peace.
He said that violence has been one of the fundamental threats to Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, civil society organizations, religious groups, traditional institutions and other key actors have a role to play in bringing peace to Nigeria.
“By signing the agreement, the national peace agreement will focus on the symbolic gesture, but I think our focus is to ensure free, fair and non-violent elections.
“I think the second phase that we need to start interrogating goes beyond having peaceful elections, but Nigeria desperately needs a peaceful environment.
“The amount of violence that has engulfed our nation, in a country that is not at war, this, to me, is a fundamental threat to our democracy and those who run the system must show commitment and capacity to stop this threat.
“INEC is here, INEC is still the empire, INEC is the midwife and the midwife does not take the baby home.”
INEC President Mahmood Yakubu said that the success of the peace agreement depends on all parties concerned.
Mr. Yakubu said that INEC has taken steps to ensure credible elections on July 16 and called on all candidates to strive to comply with the peace agreement.
‘Adequate security’
Meanwhile, the deputy inspector general of police in charge of the July 16 elections, Johnson Kokumon, reiterated his commitment to ensuring adequate security during and after the elections.
“Nigeria Police is in synergy with other security agencies and we are fully prepared to ensure that we create peaceful elections in Osun State,” said Mr. Kokumon.
Mr. Kokumon advised political parties and candidates to avoid provocative words capable of causing violence among their supporters.
“We recently did it at Ekiti State, I want to assure you that we’re not just replicating what we did at Ekiti, we’re going to improve on what we did at Ekiti for posterity to judge.”