The Eburu of Iba in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Adekunle Adeogun Okunoye, yesterday tasked traditional rulers on their roles during elections, insisting that monarchs should not fold their arms and watch voters apathy during elections.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Centre for Rural Affairs and Community Development said gone were the days when royal fathers were confined to their palaces when they should encourage their subjects to troop out and cast their votes.
“Our current reality as traditional rulers, who must be interested in development of our domains, is that we have to rise up and complement government efforts in mobilising our people before and during every election to record massive participation of eligible voters. This is not about partisanship but our responsibility to our people,” he said.
Okunoye acknowledged the nation’s constitution, which gives authority to public office holders over traditional institution, and said working for government success should guarantee fair distribution of development and political appointment to domains.
The revered monarch emphasised that the presence of indigenes in administration boosts chances of towns and communities to enjoy the benefits of the administration.
He enjoined fellow monarchs to play their part in influencing more participation from voters registration to elections.
The Pro-chancellor of Atiba University also noted: “Monarchs in bjgger towns and cities tend to enjoy more freedom in associating with politicians than monarchs from rural communities.”
Okunoye added that parties could no longer rely on vote-buying at the expense of developmental projects.
According to him,a traditional ruler who is able to nominate and get few indigenes to get political appointments could also have influence and bargaining chips to convince his people.
“Let’s divide our society into card carrying members and non-card carrying members. The political class controls the card carrying members, while the rest are shared among religious and traditional communities. Careful examination of voting statistics will reveal the reason for constantly less than 50 per cent voting rate.
“Most non-card carrying members don’t vote because of lack of knowledge, logistics and fear of violence. The efforts of INEC and NGOs hasn’t yielded much result,” Eburu said.
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