Leading opposition parties in Oyo state have vowed to resist rigging and electoral violence during the April general election.
Speaking at different fora on Saturday, the ANPP, the Action Congress and Alliance for Democracy said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would get more than it bargained for if it rigged the elections.
For instance, the governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party in Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, said in Ibadan, on Saturday that rigging and violence will be checkmated during the elections.
The parties called on the Independent National Electoral Commission and the state police command to be fair in the discharge of their duties to avoid plunging the state into crisis.
Ajimobi, a serving senator, spoke at the graduation ceremony of 10,350 students of a vocational school he founded. He also used the occasion to inaugurate his campaign for the April 14 governorship election.
The event was witnessed by the national leaders of the ANPP, including Chief Harry Akande, Dr. Busari Adebisi and the state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Rasak Folorunso.
After 28 years sojourn in the oil industry, Ajimobi said he ventured into politics to change the life of the people � majority of whom he said had been taken for granted for too long by unscrupulous politicians.
Ajimobi said he did not believe in politics of doling out money to the people without any consideration for their long-term welfare and prosperity.
He said, �Our own brand of politics is not that of amala and gbegiri, where people will have to rely on us for their daily bread. We will create opportunities for the people to be able to vend for themselves.
�We are not going to practice the brand of politics whereby people will line up in our house every Friday to collect N200 that cannot in any way better their lot.�
The senator said the electorate were now wiser and would not sit by and allow a recurrence of manipulations that called to question the credibility of the 2003 elections.
If he becomes the governor, Ajimobi said he would establish vocational training centres in each of the 33 local governments of the state to chart a new direction for the youths.
Ajimobi said, �If we can train more than 10,000 with personal resources free, then we will deploy the state resources into better use.
�This will ultimately improve the socio-economic well-being of the people and this will reduce tension and violence in the land. You know that a hungry man is an angry man.�
Students, who excelled in fashion designing, hairdressing, computer engineering, GSM repairs, among the graduating students, were presented with materials to start off on their own.
The Chairman, Campaign Committee of the AC for the general election, Mr. Samson Aderohunmu, told journalists during a news conference that the party would kick-start its campaign by noon on Monday (today).
Assuring party faithful of adequate security as the train moves round state, he said the party had sought and obtained police permit for the itinerary.Opposition vows to resist rigging, violence