Ahead of Guber Poll: Police Arrest Osun Chief, Accord Candidate, 84 Others, Campaign Alleges

• Our Top officials under attack, state govt cries out •APC, accord supporters disrupt INEC event, commission deploys 4,427 BVAS • Police: Official arrested for allegedly harbouring suspected criminal •Tinubu congratulates Uzodimma as chair APC national campaign c’ttee •SWAGA launches campaign, seeks support for Tinubu, Oyebamiji Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja A few weeks to the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, the Imole Campaign Council has accused the Police of arresting no fewer than 86 supporters of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s political camp. These, it claimed, included a traditional chief, an Accord Party candidate for the Osun State House of Assembly, from Ilesa, popularly known as Alabama and other political associates. The group alleged that the arrests were aimed at intimidating voters and undermining the credibility of the poll. Speaking to journalists after leading a delegation to the IRT Office in Abuja, where a large number of the detainees were being kept, the spokesperson for the Imole Campaign Council and legal practitioner, Pelumi Olajengbesi, described the arrests as unlawful, politically motivated and a dangerous threat to democratic governance. Olajengbesi alleged that the traditional chief was arrested around 1:30am during a midnight raid on his residence before being transferred from Osogbo to Abuja, while the Assembly candidate was also detained without any formal charge. He further claimed that some of the detainees had been moved to correctional facilities in Keffi and Kuje despite not being arraigned before any court. “In the last two or three days, over 86 members of our political family have been arrested for no reason. They were brought by road from Osun State to Abuja and are being detained without any explanation. “We have met with the leadership of the police, but they cannot provide any reason for these arrests. There is no petition against these people. They have committed no offence. There is no charge against them, no allegation whatsoever,” he said. The lawyer alleged that the police had become partisan in the build-up to the election, accusing the Osun State Commissioner of Police of orchestrating indiscriminate arrests of perceived supporters of Governor Adeleke. “The Commissioner of Police in Osun State wakes up every morning, moves from town to town arresting people simply because they are believed to be members of our political family or supporters of Governor Ademola Adeleke. “A chief in Esa-Oke, Chief Orija, was arrested at about 1:30 in the morning. His family was denied access to him before he was taken to Abuja. An Accord Party candidate contesting for the Osun State House of Assembly in Ilesa has also been detained. His only offence is that he is mobilising support ahead of the election,” he alleged. Top Officials Under Police Attack, Osun Govt Says The Osun state government, yesterday, raised the alarm over systematic invasion, attacks and bursting of homes of top officials of the state government by the state police command without proper search warrant. It alleged that the latest was the invasion of the house of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Speaking on the development, Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, said the SSG’s residence was raided by a combined team of police officers led by the Deputy Commissioner for Operations with family members of the SSG taken to unknown destinations. He said the gestapo operations on the SSG residence followed a similar raid and arrest at the residences of about six commissioners and other top functionaries of the government. According to him, as at the time the SSG house was invaded, his ward officials were holding meetings within the compound while the SSG himself was attending the stakeholders’ forum organised by the electoral commission. He contended that the police had yesterday raided the residence of the Commissioner for Energy at Ikire, ransacking the building and destroying several properties while five other commissioners had reported their houses being shadowed and others bursted even when nothing illegal happened in their abodes. The information commissioner stressed that “Following several raids and arrests, reports at the disposal of the government indicated that several Accord members are languishing in CID cells at the State Command without being granted bail. “These raids on the SSG and our commissioners are an aggravated assault on the government and people of Osun state. This campaign of repression constitutes grave danger to democracy. It is a reprehensible unprofessional conduct by the police in support of the state APC. “By openly launching attacks on Osun government officials, the state police command has again confirmed its partiality, its partisanship and its becoming a direct tool in the hands of Osun APC. This is a law enforcement agency becoming lawless and acting against the spirit and letters of the constitution. “These grave violations of the constitution and basic rights of the government and people of Osun state come as the national chairman of INEC is meeting stakeholders. The police have become a major threat to the conduct of free and fair elections in Osun state. “We again call the attention of our traditional rulers, the Nigeria Police Service, the Inspector General of Police, the National Security Adviser and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to this escalation of targeted violence against top government officials and Accord members in Osun state. This must be stopped before it escalates into a general breakdown of law and order. “Our governor has consistently tasked the populace to calm down and not to take law into their own hands. The situation is reaching a boiling point. We must save our democracy from these lawless elements within the Nigerian police”, the statement noted. We ‘ll Discharge Our Responsibility with Professionalism, CP stresses The Commissioner for Police in Osun State, Ibrahim Gotan, has maintained that the Nigeria Police Force, as the lead agency in election security, is fully prepared to discharge its constitutional responsibility with professionalism, impartiality, and respect for the rule of law. The police boss who stated this at the Osun State Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Joash Amupitan, in Osogbo, noted that the meeting reflected a collective commitment to ensuring that the governorship election is conducted in a peaceful, transparent, credible, and secure atmosphere. He said, “In collaboration with INEC and other security agencies, we have developed comprehensive operational strategies to guarantee the safety of voters, election officials, observers, journalists, and electoral materials before, during, and after the election.” “Our key strategies include: Comprehensive threat assessment and intelligence gathering across all local government areas.” Also, reacting to the alleged intimidation and arrest of opposition members in the state, the police image maker, Biodun Ojelabi, said, “It is true, but based on intelligence the house of SSG was raided by police operatives and six persons were arrested with exhibits. He claimed that four of those arrested had been screened and were discovered not to be involved, and would be released. “That is all I can say for now,” Ojelabi posited. APC, Accord Supporters Disrupt INEC Event Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Accord Party yesterday disrupted the Osun State Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Chairman of INEC, Amupitan, in Osogbo, creating a tense atmosphere that nearly stalled proceedings and prompted heightened security vigilance. The forum witnessed repeated chants, counter-chants and political songs by supporters of the two major parties, APC and Accord, forcing security operatives on red alert over fears of a possible breakdown of law and order. However, the tension was brought under control after Amupitan appealed to party supporters to embrace peace, reminding them that elections are democratic contests and not wars. According to him: “Election is not about violence. It is about giving the people the opportunity to freely choose leaders who will advance the development of Osun State and Nigeria.” Despite the charged atmosphere, the INEC Chairman assured political parties, candidates and the electorate that the Commission was fully prepared to conduct a credible, transparent and peaceful governorship election on August 15, 2026. Speaking at the stakeholders’ forum, Amupitan unveiled a comprehensive package of operational, technological and security measures designed to guarantee the credibility of the election, including the deployment of 4,427 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, extension of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection, enhanced election security and stronger collaboration with anti-corruption agencies to combat vote-buying. He described the forum as an important accountability platform through which INEC demonstrated its operational readiness and reaffirms its neutrality before political parties and the electorate. According to him, the Commission has completed comprehensive readiness assessments across all 30 local government areas of the state and is fully prepared to conduct the election in strict compliance with the Electoral Act 2026 and INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines. Amupitan informed that Osun State has 2,339,233 registered voters, spread across 30 local government areas, 332 registration areas (wards) and 3,763 polling units, while 14 political parties are participating in the election. Chairman stressed that 322,822 newly registered voters, representing 62 per cent, had collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) as of the close of collection on Tuesday. To enable more eligible voters to participate in the election, the Commission extended PVC collection until Friday, July 31, 2026. He said: “We have decided to extend the collection till Friday, 31st July to enable those who have not collected their PVCs to do so. This is to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised.” He added that security agencies had been directed to provide maximum security around all PVC collection centres across the state. The INEC Chairman explained that the Commission had successfully sanitised the voters’ register using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which eliminated cases of multiple registrations and other invalid entries before certifying the final register. Taking lessons from the recent Ekiti State governorship election, where more than 90 per cent of polling units reportedly commenced accreditation by 8:30 a.m., Amupitan said INEC intends to match or surpass that performance in Osun. To assist early deployment of personnel and election materials, he announced that the Commission had established 97 Super Registration Area Centres (Super RACs) and 105 Registration Area Centres (RACs) across the state. He noted agreements with transport unions, including the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), would be concluded before election day to guarantee seamless movement of election materials. While speaking on election technology, Amupitan disclosed that INEC had deployed 4,427 customised BVAS machines, including 664 backup units, representing a 15 per cent operational reserve to immediately replace any malfunctioning device during accreditation. He stressed that biometric verification through fingerprints or facial recognition remains the only legally recognised method of voter accreditation. “There will be no manual accreditation,” he declared. He further assured stakeholders that polling unit results would be uploaded directly to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal immediately after voting to promote transparency. The Commission will also conduct a statewide Mock Accreditation Exercise on Saturday, August 1, across 12 selected local government areas covering the three senatorial districts. The selected councils are Osogbo, Olorunda, Ifelodun and Boripe in Osun Central; Ilesa West, Ilesa East, Oriade and Obokun in Osun East; and Egbedore, Ede North, Ede South and Ejigbo in Osun West. He invited political parties, election observers, civil society organisations and journalists to witness the exercise, describing it as INEC’s final technology test ahead of the governorship election. On security, Amupitan said the Commission had activated an Electoral Risk Management framework in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to identify, monitor and mitigate threats before and during the election. According to him, identified flashpoints include Atakumosa East, Atakumosa West, Boripe, Ede North, Ede South, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Ila, Osogbo, Ifelodun and Oriade local government areas. Tinubu Congratulates Uzodimma as Chair of APC National C’ttee President Bola Tinubu has congratulated the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, on his appointment as the Chairman of the APC National Campaign Council for the Osun State governorship election. “Congratulations to the Chairman of the APC National Campaign Committee for the Osun State governorship election, Governor Hope Uzodimma. I charge you all to deliver the State for the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji,” Tinubu wrote. On Tuesday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the 276 members of the APC National Campaign Council for the Osun State governorship election, and the subcommittees under the leadership of Uzodimma, were inaugurated. Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas will serve as Co-Chair. SWAGA Launches Osun Campaign The leadership of the South West Agenda (SWAGA) has intensified mobilisation for President Tinubu and the APC governorship candidate in Osun State, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji (AMBO), ahead of the August 15 governorship election and the 2027 general election. Speaking at the launch of SWAGA 2.0 in Osogbo, the National Chairman of the group, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, enjoined the electorate to vote overwhelmingly for President Tinubu in 2027 and Oyebamiji in the forthcoming Osun governorship election. Adeyeye reminded the people of Osun State to replicate the recent electoral success recorded in neighbouring Ekiti State, where Governor Biodun Oyebanji secured a landslide re-election victory on June 20, by voting massively for AMBO. He equally sought support for President Tinubu’s re-election bid, arguing that the administration’s reforms in critical sectors, including finance, agriculture, infrastructure and education, have continued to earn the confidence of Nigerians. “Tinubu will win second term by the grace of God. He will also win all the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Like the second term governor of Ekiti who won all the local governments during the last governorship poll in Ekiti, Tinubu will also win all the states of the federation with your support,” he said. State Coordinator of SWAGA and Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Ayo Omidiran, said the group’s primary objective in the state was to secure victory for Oyebamiji in the August 15 governorship poll. Police Say Arrested Official Hoarding Alleged Criminal Meanwhile, the Osun State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of one government official Teslim Igbalaye and five others over allegations of harbouring one Oladele Abiodun, popularly known as Ashipa, who has been on its watchlist. The command, in a statement by its spokesperson, Ojelabi, said its operatives arrested Abiodun at the SSG residence on Wednesday afternoon. According to the statement, other suspects arrested at the residence include Mr Akande Taiwo, 60; Adeyemo Lukman, 45; Olaoye Muftau, 50; and Aderemi Musliu, 40. The statement also noted that during the operation, a cash sum of N4,810,500, one Dynabook Laptop, one photocopy machine, one printer, two voters’ cards and a voters’ register for wards 1-15 were found. The police said the exhibits have been secured for forensic examination and further investigation. Ojelabi said: “Acting on credible and actionable intelligence that some criminal gang were hibernating around Oroki Estate Area, Osogbo, operatives of the Command carried out a lawful operation within the environs while one suspect identified as Abiodun Arowomole, popularly known as “Ashipa,” who has been on the watch-list in connection with serious criminal offences including murder and others at a residential property linked to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Osun State.” The Command said the recovery of cash and the register containing voters’ details raises serious concerns regarding possible electoral offences. It listed possible offences under investigation to include “Bribery of Voters contrary to Section 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, Criminal Conspiracy, and harbouring or concealing a Wanted Criminal.” The statement further said: “The Osun State Police Command wishes to emphasise that these are serious allegations with far-reaching implications for public security, the administration of justice, and the credibility of the democratic process.” The police assured that investigations are being intensified to identify all persons connected with the recovered exhibits and to establish the source and intended use of the funds. “We assure the good people of Osun State that the Nigeria Police Force remains steadfast in its constitutional responsibility to enforce the law without fear or favour,” Ojelabi said.