Less than a month to the August 9 governorship election in Osun State, Governor Rauf Aregbesola has setup a group known as “State Boys” to serve as rivals to security agents during the poll.
Their mandate is to secure ballot boxes and monitor the voting exercise during the election.
Although the existence of the “State Boys” has been known to residents of the state, they were challenged yesterday at a rally of the All Progressives Congress, APC to live up to expectation during the election.
At the campaign rally held at Ede for Ede/Agbedore/Ejigbo federal constituency,
Governor Aregbesola warned security operatives against bullying or intimidating the electorate during the poll, saying they would regret such acts.
He said if the security agents posted to the state during the poll failed to do what is right, “we shall deal with them with traditional powers.”
The governor, who spoke in Yoruba language, said: “Any security operative who tries to intimidate or bully us will regret it. They should do their job justly or we will show them that we are a people with tradition and we shall deal with such persons ruthlessly.”
Earlier, former governor of the state, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, warned members of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, who would serve as ad-hoc officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during the election against rigging, saying they should not extend their antics in Ekiti State to Osun.
He said: “I want to sound a note of warning to NYCS members, if you have been rigging elections, don’t take it to Osun. We are different, this is not Ekiti. Count and record the votes you see, else, it will boomerang on you.”
Turning to the “State Boys”, a group of political thugs being funded by the state government for the election, Adeleke said they should not to relax, stressing that they have been appointed to watch over the voting exercise and secure the ballot boxes.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
