Tension high in Osun over arrest  of SSG, five others

Tension high in Osun over arrest  of SSG, five others

Operatives of the Osun State Police Command have arrested six persons and recovered N4,810,500 cash and election materials during a raid at a residential property linked to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Oroki Estate, Osogbo.

Among those arrested is the SSG, Osun State, Hon. Teslim Igbalaye (47), alongside five others.

The Command, in a statement signed by DSP Abiodun Ojelabi on Tuesday, said the operation followed credible intelligence that a criminal gang was hibernating around the area.

Teslim Igbalaye

During the raid, police arrested a suspected gang leader, Abiodun Arowomole, popularly known as “Ashipa”, who has been on the command’s watch-list for alleged murder and other offences.

Also arrested are Akande Taiwo, 60; Oladele Abiodun, 38; Adeyemo Lukman, 45; Olaoye Muftau, 50; and Aderemi Musliu, 40.

Items recovered include N4,810,500 in cash, one Dynabook laptop, one photocopy machine, one printer, two voters’ cards, and a voter register covering wards 1 to 15. The exhibits have been secured for forensic examination and further investigation.

The police said the recovery of large cash and voters’ details raised serious concerns of possible electoral offences. Preliminary findings point to suspected offences including Vote Buying contrary to Section 121 of the Electoral Act 2022, Criminal Conspiracy, and Harboring a Wanted Criminal.

“The Nigeria Police Force remains steadfast in its constitutional responsibility to enforce the law without fear or favour.

“No individual, irrespective of social status, political affiliation, or public office, is above the law.

Any person found culpable will be prosecuted,” the police said.

The Command said investigations are being intensified to trace the source of the recovered funds and identify all persons connected to the alleged criminal enterprise.

It urged residents to remain calm and provide credible information to ensure a peaceful and credible electoral process.

Tension as police raid govt officials’ homes
However, tension is mounting in the state days to the August 15 governorship election following alleged raids on the residences of top government officials by operatives of the Osun State Police Command.

The Osun State Government on Tuesday raised alarm over what it called ‹gestapo operations› targeting the Secretary to the State Government and at least six commissioners.

The Commissioner for Information, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, said the SSG’s residence was invaded by police led by the Deputy Commissioner of Operations while the SSG was at the INEC stakeholders forum in Osogbo. Family members were reportedly taken away, he said.

Alimi also alleged that the residence of the Commissioner for Energy in Ikire was raided on Monday with properties destroyed, while five other commissioners have reported their homes being “shadowed and bursted”.

The government further claimed that several Accord Party members are currently being held in CID cells without bail.

Describing the development as “reprehensible unprofessional conduct by the police in support of the state APC”, the government said the police have become “a major threat to the conduct of free and fair election in Osun State”.

The statement came as INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, was meeting stakeholders in Osogbo ahead of the election.

“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,” Alimi said, urging calm while warning that «the situation is reaching a boiling point.”

Court bars police from harassing Senator Oyewumi
Meanwhile, an Osun State High Court has barred the Nigeria Police Force from further arresting, inviting, or harassing Senator Kamorudeen Olalere Oyewumi, ruling that the repeated actions over the 2025 Ikire crisis amounted to an abuse of power and were unconstitutional.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Suit No: HRE/M.15/2026, Justice J.O. Owolawi declared that the Inspector General of Police, the AIG Zone 11, and other officers had no lawful justification for the «consistent, persistent and continuous acts of intimidating, victimisation, incessant invitations and threatening of arrest» of the Senator.

The court held that the actions violated Chapter Four of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees citizens’ rights to dignity, personal liberty, fair hearing, and freedom of movement.

Justice Owolawi noted that the police failed to file any counter affidavit to refute the senator’s claims. Citing legal authorities, the judge said unchallenged facts in an affidavit are deemed admitted, and that the applicant’s affidavit contained “credible, compellable and cogent facts”.

The court consequently granted a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents and privies from «disturbing, arresting, intimidating, harassing, inviting and molesting» the Senator in any form.

In his affidavit, Senator Oyewumi, who represents Osun West, in the Senate, told the court that following the February 17, 2025 political crisis in Ikire which claimed lives including that of APC chieftain, Remi Abass, he and his associates were targeted.

He said while he was admitted to bail on self-recognition, some associates were detained in Abuja for two months, and one, Mr. Adelugba Ademola, died in custody.

According to the affidavit, despite previous investigations that found nothing against him, the police resumed regular invitations and arrests.

The senator said he honoured invitations on more than eight occasions in Ikire, Osogbo and Abuja.

The judge held that the actions also breached Sections 35,36 and 41 of the constitution and Article 6 of the African Chapter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and ruled in favour of the applicant.