OSOGBO, Nigeria — Hon. Bamidele Salam, the Accord candidate for Ede Federal Constituency, on Sunday led other candidates of the party for the 2027 National and State Assemblies elections in a press conference alleging a dangerous pattern of harassment and politically motivated arrests of leaders and members of the Accord Party by the Osun State Police Command.

The candidates said they invited the media to draw the attention of Nigerians, the Inspector-General of Police, the Independent National Electoral Commission, civil society organisations and the international community to the developments.

They described the Nigerian Police Force as constitutionally established to protect lives and property and serve all citizens without fear or favour, but alleged that recent actions of the Osun State Police Command suggested it was lending itself to partisan interests through what they called frivolous arrests and trumped-up allegations targeted at prominent leaders of their party.

The candidates cited the arrest of Mr Popoola Alaba, the Accord candidate for Ijesa South Federal Constituency, who they said was quietly moved to Abuja on Sunday morning. They stated that they initially exercised restraint to give the police the benefit of the doubt, but said their confidence was shattered after reading the Command’s official explanation in the newspapers. According to them, the police claimed Alaba was arrested over a petition from an unnamed petitioner without disclosing the identity, status or locus of the petitioner. They also said the Command failed to state whether Alaba had been invited to respond to the petition before what they described as a commando-style arrest and transfer to Abuja.

The candidates further referred to the arrest of Barrister Olaniyan Sodiq, a legal practitioner and Accord operative in Ward 4, Ido-Osun, Egbedore Local Government Area. They said his alleged offence was that he challenged what he considered unlawful interference by an APC leader in the statutory responsibility of INEC during the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards. They demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Barrister Olaniyan Sodiq.

They said they were aware of disturbing intelligence regarding an alleged nocturnal meeting involving the Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Mr Ibrahim Gotan, another head of a security agency and Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi of the APC, where arrangements were allegedly concluded to systematically hound leaders and members of the Accord through frivolous allegations and unlawful detention. They added that they were reliably informed that their Senatorial candidate for Osun East, Hon. Ibukun Fadipe, and several other leaders particularly within the Ijesa axis had allegedly been marked for arrest in the coming days.

The candidates also mentioned reports suggesting plans to arrest and detain leaders of organised labour in Osun State with the involvement of the State Police Command. They called on Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu to urgently intervene and ensure that officers under his command in Osun State operate strictly within the Constitution and the law.

They urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address what they described as a disturbing trend of police harassment, intimidation and persecution of their party leaders and members as the state moves closer to the August 15 governorship election. They also called for the immediate release of Mr Alaba Ibrahim Popoola, Mr Sodiq Akinola Olaniyan and all other persons they said had been arrested without reasonable and lawful reasons.

The candidates demanded that the Inspector-General launch an investigation into the alleged collaboration of CP Gotan and Senator Fadahunsi, and called for an independent probe into allegations of importation of thugs and unauthorised security personnel into Ijesa-land. They further called on the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian Bar Association, the National Peace Committee, the media and other bodies to act in defence of the people of Osun State.

They maintained that the Accord Party remains committed to peaceful, issue-based and democratic participation in the forthcoming elections and called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission, INEC, civil society organisations and the National Human Rights Commission to closely monitor developments in the state.