Ahead of the August 8, 2026, gubernatorial poll in Osun, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Emmanuel Wale Salako, on Thursday implored supporters of the opposition party not to treat the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise in the state with levity.

Salako, who hails from Otan-Aiyegbaju in the Boluwaduro Local Government Council Area of the state, said ownership of valid voter cards remains the only means to enthrone their preferred government during next year’s poll.

In a statement made available to journalists, the APC stalwart, who recently, alongside his supporters, decamped to the opposition party from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reminded the people that the voters’ cards are the only constitutional visible means of effecting change of government in a democratic clime like Nigeria.

Specifically, Salako tasked APC supporters in the Ila Federal Constituency, which encompasses the Ifedayo/Ila/Boluwaduro Local Government Council areas of the state, to brace themselves and play a proactive role in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise.

He said, “It would not be enough for the party supporters to engage in the sloganeering aspect of politics alone without deeming it necessary to have voters’ cards.

“It is necessary and compulsory for anyone who calls himself/herself the adherent of the APC to have a voter’s card with which to wage non-violent electoral war during the period of the elections.”

Salako, however, hinted that his resolve to defect to the APC was informed by the visible achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the transformation that has been witnessed in Nigeria’s socio-political and economic sectors.

He also appealed to Osun voters to disregard undue politicking and support Tinubu in his Renewed Hope Agenda.