Bamigbola Gbolagunte and Clement Adeyi, Osogbo

Against today’s governorship election in Osun State, tension palpable tension mounts in major cities and towns of the state.

This is even as security has been beefed up in all the 30 local government areas to forestall breakdown of law and order.

Already, no fewer than 18,000 police officers have been deployed to the state with other security personnel to maintain law and order at all the polling centres in all the 364 wards in the state.

Security was tight in all the major towns in the state including Osogbo, the state capital, Ile-Ife, Ilesa, Ikirun and Iragbiji, among others.

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Also, a heavy presence of security personnel was noticed at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) along Gbongan/Ibadan road.

In the same vein, Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the people of the state to eschew every form of violence or acts capable of undermining the integrity of today’s governorship election.

The governor also sent a strong warning to any individual who may have sinister intention to disrupt the peaceful, free and fair conduct of the election, saying security agencies are all over the state to nip any criminal and undemocratic act in the bud.

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This was contained in an early state wide broadcast to the people of the state, cautioning them to be vigilant and report all suspicious and criminal activities to law enforcement agencies.

The governor said voting is political power in the hand of the electorate, which could only be exercised by registered voters with their permanent voter’s card.

He noted that people must therefore exercise the civil power responsibly in choosing their leaders so as to help put the right person in leadership position.

Poised to win the election, scores of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, chieftains and leaders have stormed Osogbo, the state capital, to strategise for the emergence of the party’s flag bearer, Gboyega Oyetola as the governor.

Saturday Sun investigation confirmed that some of them had been in the state since the party’s final mega rally on Tuesday, which was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, where some of them told the crowd of supporters that they would not return to their bases until after the election.

They assured that they would remain in the state to strategise, monitor and witness the party’s victory in the election.

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