In a statement issued in Ibadan Monday, TYLPI stated that the governorship election offers an opportunity for the country to showcase to the world that she is capable of organising free, fair, credible and transparent elections devoid of violence, malpractices and manipulation of results.

The TYLPI wants INEC to reassure the nation of a credible election next Saturday, warning that “vote buying” that marred the July 14 Ekiti governorship poll, must not be permitted to rear up its ugly head. “The vote buying episode in Ekiti is an ugly chapter in Nigeria’s electoral history that has made the country a laughing stock before the whole world”.

The group, in the statement signed by its General Secretary, Femi Adefemiwa and Chairman, Publicity Committee, Sir Folu Olamiti, urged all stakeholders to put an end to all ignoble traits and shenanigans witnessed in the Ekiti exercise.

Reviewing political developments in the country, TYLPI deplores the perceived do-or die attitude of politicians to cling to or gain power, describing such desperation as unduly overheating the polity and distracting from meaningful governance and development in the society.

It alleges that the flexing of muscles by political parties to deploy their political machineries including presidential aspirants and chieftains into Osun State ahead the elections is capable of creating a repeat of what happened in the July 14 Ekiti governorship election, and could lead to breakdown of law and order capable of threatening the country’s fragile unity and stability.

While calling on security agencies to be alert to nip any trouble in the bud, TYLPI urges restraint by all parties and cautions the people of the state against being used to cause chaos. “We in Yorubaland are proud of our heritage as the bastion of democrats. We are conscious of our history and the primal role this region plays.”
The group reminds political gladiators that past ugly political events, which had grave consequences on national stability and shaped the country’s narratives, started from the South West from where it spread and later engulfed other parts of the country. Nigerians, it says, should now chart a new electoral direction by playing by the rules and avoid vile campaigns and electoral malpractices.

The group also urges the Osun electorate to vote wisely and not mortgage their franchise, stressing: “They should go out to elect credible leaders who could improve their living conditions and guarantee better future for their offspring.

TYLPI calls on INEC to “leverage on new technological innovations including improving on performance of card readers, as well as raise the level of preparations so far witnessed in the off-season elections and bye-elections it has conducted so far in Kogi, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo and Anambra states.” Specifically, TYLPI urges the electoral umpire to devise new strategies that will checkmate the vote buying syndrome said to have been carried out in full glare of security agents and INEC officials at polling booths in Ekiti.

TYLPI also demands that security agents should discharge their assignment in a professional and impartial manner that would not leave room to doubt their neutrality during the exercise.

It also urged government to ensure a level playing field for all candidates and put in place effective remedies for violations of citizens’ election-related rights, as well as timely procedures to bring to account those who conduct criminal acts that violate electoral-related rights.

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The scheduled retreat with participants drawn from all Southwest state and others, including Kwara, Kogi, Edo, and all parts of Nigeria and the Diaspora where yorubas are spread, will hold at the Conference Hall, Lead City University, Ibadan on Thursday.

According to a statement signed by Folu Olamiti, spokesman for the group, Yoruba leaders, captains of industries, those from the academia, students, market men and women, artisans and different brands of professionals had been invited to partake in the retreat.

The Retreat, the statement stressed, will focus essentially on ways and means of fostering the Unity of the Yoruba with intent to forge a common endeavour among the people in line with the aspirations of the race progenitors.

The statement said that with the outcome of the Retreat, TYLPI would be in a good stead to network with other similar groups and like minds to spearhead advocacy on promotion of good neighborliness among the Yoruba and the sound leadership which it said the south-west required to attain a new height in Nigeria.

It said TYLPI has always been inclined towards reviving Education which it noted has always given the Yoruba an edge as an ethnic group as well as promoting economic and cultural advancement of the people at all times.

It said participants at the Retreat would have the right opportunity to espouse ideas and suggestions meant to revive the fast dwindling Yoruba heritage through which it noted the Yoruba ethnic group for years, registered as the pace-setter for others in Nigeria.

TYLPI a non-partisan, non-political and non-religious group had before now had held series of meetings on its core aim and objective of forging a common endeavour among the Yoruba, while the idea of the Retreat scheduled for Thursday is part of efforts to widen its horizon both locally and internationally.

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