Political actors participating in the August 15 Osun State governorship election must exercise restraint and avoid actions capable of triggering violence, a former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG Abutu Yaro (retd.), has advised.
Yaro made the call on Monday in Abuja at the public presentation of Kimpact Development Initiative’s pre-election security risk assessment of Osun State, which identified 12 local government areas as high-risk ahead of the poll.
He said political actors remained central to the prevention of election-related insecurity, stressing that security challenges during elections were often fuelled by political interests.
“Insecurity does not create itself, it is created by political actors, funded by them, sponsored by them, navigated by them, and designed for their preferred outcome,” he said.
According to him, security agencies could only do so much if politicians refused to abide by the rules and exercise patriotism during the electoral process.
