POLITICAL TENSION SOARS IN OSUN AS POLICE ARREST SSG TESLIM IGBALAIYE AND FIVE OTHERS AHEAD OF GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION

Tensions have escalated across Osun State ahead of the August 15 governorship election after security operatives from the Osun State Police Command raided the Osogbo residence of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hon. Teslim Igbalaiye. The operation led to the arrest and detention of Igbalaiye alongside five other individuals: Taiwo Akande (60), Oladele Abiodun (38), Lukman Adeyemo (45), Muftau Olaoye (50), and Musliu Aderemi (40).

​According to a formal statement released by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, the raid was an intelligence-driven operation targeted at a suspected criminal hideout within the Oroki Estate area of Osogbo. The command disclosed that one of those apprehended, Oladele Abiodun (alias "Ashipa"), was a suspect on the police watchlist in connection with serious criminal allegations, including murder. During the raid, officers seized several items, including ₦4,810,500 in cash, two Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), official voter registers covering Wards 1 to 15, a Dynabook laptop, a photocopying machine, and a printing unit. The police stated that the presence of voter registers and substantial cash raised strong suspicions of vote-buying under Section 121 of the Electoral Act 2022, as well as criminal conspiracy and harbouring a wanted criminal.

​Reacting strongly to the development, Governor Ademola Adeleke's administration and campaign council condemned the raid, describing it as an unwarranted, politically motivated assault on state functionaries. Speaking through the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the Osun State Government alleged that police operatives carried out a Gestapo-style invasion without presenting a valid search warrant while Igbalaiye was away attending an official Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stakeholders' meeting. Alimi further claimed that party ward executives were holding a peaceful meeting inside the premises during the raid, while charging that security agencies are systematically harassing government officials and detaining scores of ruling party members across the state to intimidate the electorate.

​In contrast, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council welcomed the police operation, asserting that the discoveries validated their earlier concerns regarding electoral manipulation and cash distribution ahead of the polls. As political figures call on higher authorities—including the Inspector-General of Police and national security leaders—to intervene, the police command maintained that no individual enjoys immunity from criminal investigation and vowed to conduct a thorough forensic examination of all recovered items.