Nigeria 2011 presidential polls - Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has warned politicians in the state against violence in the forthcoming general elections in the country. Aregbesola pledged to work with all security agencies to ensure that those involved in violence during the elections must face the full wrath of the law.
The governor during an interactive session with newsmen at the Government House, Osogbo justified the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying the state needs to document events of the past years in order to stave-off future occurrence of misdeeds.
Aregbesola said, "When some people are bent on disrupting election, it will take the commitment of the law enforcement agents to quell the uprising", saying, "It is because those who have benefited from electoral fraud have not been put in jail; that is making them to talk because they are expected to be in jail".
Continuing, he said, "I will assist law enforcement agencies to carry out their assignment to the best of their ability. Whatever shenanigans that the PDP employs in the next election will only lead to their failure. Whoever causes violence will have himself to blame."
Speaking on the Reconciliation Commission, the governor said while there is no intention to intimidate anybody, there is the need to document what transpired in the past for the knowledge of the coming generation.
He said, "Let us just assume that all we want to do is to document what happened between 2003 and now, to curb a re-occurrence would that not be enough? If for nothing else, let the world hear what some people did. There was a bomb blast, let the world know what happened. You remember the case of Ade Komolafe, who sent his driver to the filling station, some people wanted to jump the queue and he resisted them. He was attacked. The man got there and he was killed. We cannot leave these things at the level of mere newspaper reports. Let those, who suffered these atrocities come and say them. If we do, I sincerely believe that the victims and perpetrators, even without punishment, would have been helped to be more humane."
The governor, who also spoke on Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme, said the recruitment of 2000 volunteers into the OYES scheme for developing the state remains one of the most ambitious projects to be embarked upon by any state government."Nobody could imagine how we came about 31 centres. There is no facility in Nigeria that could train 20,000 youths at once. The NYSC camp here could only accommodate 4000 not to talk of the kitting logistics. I challenge anybody to do it. How do you identify the trainers and produce the training manual? To me, it is a measure of diligence, organization and astuteness for any government to have succeeded within the period we commenced," the governor explained.
Daily Champion/14/02/2011
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