Public affairs commentator Mahdi Shehu has described the recent Osun State governorship election as a wake-up call for Northern voters and other Nigerians whom he believes have become passive in exercising their voting rights.

In a post shared on X on Monday, Shehu argued that the election demonstrated how determined voters can resist political pressure, despite the resources and influence of those in power.

According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) entered the election with the full advantage of incumbency and deployed significant human and material resources in an effort to win.

“APC, its state, local and federal mights were not in Osun to lose elections but to prove their supremacy and take advantage of their incumbency at the federal level,” he wrote.

He claimed that the party left nothing to chance but said voters remained focused on what they wanted and refused to be influenced by inducements, intimidation or last-minute promises.

“They met a thick wall erected by voters who had defined what they wanted and nothing short of it, no matter the inducement, intimidation and afterthought last-minute empty promises,” he said.

Shehu also argued that if similar efforts had been directed at voters in parts of Northern Nigeria and the South-East, the outcome could have been different.

He alleged that many Northern voters are often influenced by sentiments and immediate needs, while describing many Southern voters as awake, alert, cautious and choosy in making electoral decisions.

He urged voters, particularly in the North, to reflect on the lessons from the Osun election and make future voting decisions based on their long-term interests.

“Hope Northern and other docile and timid voters will think, act, behave and vote wisely in their best interest,” he said.

The widow of a Plateau State-based clergy, Pastor Emmanuel Hills, who was abducted and killed by gunmen said to be Fulani bandits on Friday, August 28, has narrated how the abductors taunted her.

According to her, the gunmen told her she would never see her husband alive again, before dragging him and another clergyman, Pastor Gabriel Dipak, into the bush.

True to their words, the body of Pastor Hills, a Ghanaian missionary and Senior Pastor of Wonderful Grace of God Ministry, as well as treasurer of the Bokkos chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, was discovered the following morning close to where they were abducted.

DAILY POST had reported on Saturday that the gunmen intercepted a vehicle in which Pastor Hills was travelling from Jos to Bokkos, along with his wife and other passengers.

According to the report, after forcing the vehicle to stop, the bandits singled out Pastors Hills and Dipak, a pastor of the Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, while other passengers were robbed of their valuables.

In a viral video shared on social media platforms on Monday, Mrs Hills narrated that while the bandits were dragging her husband and Dipak into the bush, they taunted her and told her she would not see her husband alive again.

“We, that is, my husband, myself, Pastor Dipak and other passengers, were travelling from Jos to Bokkos on Friday at about 9 p m when the Fulani bandits ambushed our vehicle,” the grieving widow said.

Continuing, she said: “I can confirm that they were Fulani people because they were speaking the language.

“And they were carrying different guns and weapons. When they stopped the vehicle, they began searching, and when they realised my husband and Pastor Dipak were men of God, they seized the two of them.

“They robbed other passengers, collecting our phones, money and other valuable items. I was pleading with them to release my husband and the other pastor since they had robbed us of our belongings, but they said they were going to kidnap the two of them.

“As they were being dragged into the bush, one of the Fulani men turned to me and said I would not see my husband alive again.

“And true to their words, they killed him and dumped his body close to the scene of the kidnapping, where we found him on Saturday morning.

“My husband was a dedicated servant of God and a respected leader within the Christian community in Bokkos.

“We had five children, and now they have made me a widow and my children fatherless,” she cried.