From Lateef Dada, Osogbo Civil Society Coalition in Osun State, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has advised governors to collaborate in order to prevent the cross-border criminal incursions. Speaking at the monthly state address in Osogbo, yesterday, Executive Director of TOM, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, charged state governments to take proactive measures and protect schools from consistent attack. “We call on the governments of the Southwest states, particularly our own Osun State government, to actively collaborate, fortify border security, and strengthen intelligence sharing cooperation, to prevent these cross-border criminal incursions. We cannot afford to allow our zone to come under the siege of these daredevils. “State governments in the country must also stop acting as passive onlookers and aggressively implement proactive local security frameworks to protect public schools and rural communities from this rampaging evil,” Alli said. On the political situation in Osun, the group condemned threats and intimidations that have characterised the campaign, urging security agencies to remain non-partisan, vigilant, and swift in clamping down on any individual or group attempting to incite electoral violence or breach the peace. “The political temperature in Osun State is reaching a boiling point ahead of the August 15 Governorship election. In our previous address, we condemned early signs of political intolerance, such as the suppression of opposing party supporters. “Today, we notice a dangerous escalation in incendiary rhetoric, cyberbullying, mutual defamation, and character assassination across various political divides. “With the election less than three months away, we must remind our politicians that opposition politics is an arena for competing development ideas, not a battleground for warfare. “Threats, inflammatory statements, and physical intimidation will do more harm to the very society these actors hope to govern than good. The everyday people of Osun are always the sole victims of political violence. “To the Leadership of all Political Parties: We demand that political leaders immediately caution and restrain their followers. Defamatory campaigns and anti-social behavior must be replaced with decorous, issues-based engagements that respect the choices of all voters,” the group said. It reiterated calls for the release of the outcome of the Tilbot scandal on the screening exercise in Osun, saying that “the allegations are too weighty to be swept under carpet. The good people of Osun deserve to know who fritters away the much needed funds for the development of the state.”