With the 2022 Osun gubernatorial election a few days away, residents of the State are apprehensive as to how it will pan out.
Most of them, who spoke with DAILY POST, are concerned over the level of violence being witnessed in the State ahead of the polls.
Things worsened in the last days of June as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ijesa land accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of colluding with the police to indiscriminately arrest its members, while the APC accused the PDP of endangering the life of the State governor, Adegboyega Oyetola and disrupting PVC distribution in Ilesa West Local Government.
Jamiu Babatunde, an APC chieftain in Osogbo stated that the political atmosphere is tense and the violence and intimidation being displayed by the two major political parties was just a means of scaring people.
Babatunde was of the opinion that the Osun gubernatorial election would be conducted without a hitch.
He expressed optimism that all the stories of violence and disruption observed statewide would abate once the election is held and the result announced.
An APC member, Adewale Maruf stated that the PDP was just being unnecessarily alarmist about the election.
He insisted that the election would be the best in the history of the State going by the enlightenment by all parties that would contest the poll.
While commending the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for their efforts and the level of work carried out towards ensuring a free, fair, peaceful, inclusive and conclusive poll, he maintained that Osun wanted peace and they were going to go all out to achieve it.
On his own, Steven Oladungoye, an Osun-based media professional, expressed optimism that the election would be better than others.
He explained that despite the noise and apprehension, the electorates knew what they wanted.
He also lamented that vote buying was still the order of the day despite all steps taken to curb electoral malpractices.
Adeseye Akeem, an Osogbo-based activist, in his opinion, stated that from the onset, there have been signs that the Osun gubernatorial election will be flawed.
“Look at the way a popular commissioner in the State has been going with uniformed and armed policemen and terrorising members of another political party all because of a day’s exercise.
“You can also see what the gubernatorial candidate of the opposition party has been saying about being ready to spend money and getting set to return fire for fire.
“Do all these signs show that these politicians are ready for a peaceful poll? No!
“Even the police have been accused of being biased. Amotekun too has been tainted. Nobody trusts anybody again,” he said.
While revealing that he was aware that all the political parties have signed different peace accords, he maintained that many of them will not stay true to the statement on the document they signed.
