By Tension heightened in Osun State on Wednesday as the state police command arrested the Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaiye, and five others, a move the governor’s campaign and the state government condemned as politically motivated ahead of August 15 governorship election.
The police said the arrests followed a raid on Igbalaiye’s residence in Osogbo, carried out by a team acting on intelligence that members of a criminal gang were hiding at the location. The command’s spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, said one of those arrested at the residence, Oladele Abiodun, was already on the police watchlist in connection with alleged criminal offences.
Others arrested alongside Igbalaiye were identified as Akande Taiwo, 60; Adeyemo Lukman, 45; Olaoye Muftau, 50; and Aderemi Musliu, 40.
Ojelabi said the police recovered a cash sum of N4,810,500, two Permanent Voter Cards, a voter register covering Wards 1 to 15, a laptop, a photocopier, and a printer from the residence. He said the exhibits had been secured for forensic examination, and that the recovery of the cash and voter register raised concerns over possible electoral offences.
The police statement said the facts available so far disclosed reasonable grounds to investigate offences including vote-buying under Section 121 of the Electoral Act 2022, criminal conspiracy, and harbouring a wanted criminal, alongside any other offences that may emerge from the investigation. The command said no one is above the law regardless of political affiliation or public office, and urged the public to remain calm while investigations continue.
The Osun State Government rejected the police account. In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the government said Igbalaiye’s residence was broken into by a combined team of police officers led by the Deputy Commissioner for Operations, and that members of his family were arrested and taken to unknown destinations.
Alimi said the raid on the SSG followed similar raids and arrests at the homes of about six commissioners, including a raid the previous day on the residence of the Commissioner for Energy at Ikire, where the government said the building was ransacked and property destroyed. He said five other commissioners reported their homes being monitored or raided despite no wrongdoing.
The government statement described the operations as an aggravated assault on the state and its people, accusing the police of unprofessional conduct in support of the state All Progressives Congress and warning that the police had become a threat to a free and fair election. It called on traditional rulers, the police high command, the National Security Adviser, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene before the situation degenerates into a breakdown of law and order.
Separately, the Adeleke campaign’s spokesperson, Pelumi Olajengbesi, told journalists after visiting the Force Intelligence Response Team headquarters in Abuja that more than 86 party members had been arrested across Osun State in the preceding two to three days and detained without lawful basis. He said 36 of the detainees had been moved to Keffi Correctional Centre and 14 others to Kuje, despite no charges being filed.
Olajengbesi also accused the Osun State Commissioner of Police of compromising the electoral process and called on the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to intervene to ensure a level playing field before the vote.
The police command pushed back on the campaign’s figures, with Ojelabi telling reporters that only six suspects were arrested, all adults, the youngest being 40 years old. He denied that police invaded the homes of commissioners, saying officers only acted on information and made arrests at the SSG’s residence. On the call for the police commissioner’s removal, Ojelabi said the decision was not his to make, noting the officer was posted to Osun by the Inspector-General of Police.
