A group of Accord Party candidates for the 2027 National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in Osun State on Sunday urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene and stop what it described as police intimidation and persecution of the party’s leaders and members in the state.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the Accord candidates, the member representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Bamidele Salam, said the President’s intervention had become necessary in view of what he described as the growing trend of police harassment of party members.
Salam also demanded the immediate release of Alaba Ibrahim Popoola, the party’s House of Representatives candidate for Ijesa South Federal Constituency, and Mr Sodiq Olaniyan, a law student, who he said was being detained in a criminal cell over allegations of cyberstalking.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding Olaniyan’s arrest, Salam said the law student had challenged the alleged unlawful interference of an APC leader in the statutory responsibilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission during the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards.
“Rather than investigate the reported interference with INEC’s lawful activities, the police chose to arrest the citizen who raised the alarm. This action is reckless, indefensible and a dangerous assault on civic responsibility.
“The police claimed Mr Popoola Alaba was arrested over an alleged petition from an unnamed petitioner, yet failed to disclose the identity, status or locus of that petitioner, thereby denying Nigerians the opportunity to assess the credibility or possible political motivation behind such allegations,” he said.
Salam also alleged that the senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, Francis Fadahunsi, had been meeting heads of security agencies in the state, “where arrangements were allegedly concluded to begin systematically hounding leaders and members of the Accord through frivolous allegations and unlawful detention.”
He added, “We are reliably informed that our senatorial candidate for Osun East Senatorial District, Hon. Ibukun Fadipe, alongside several other leaders of our party, particularly within the Ijesa axis, have allegedly been marked for arrest in the coming days using the same questionable methods deployed against Mr Popoola Alaba. If this is true, then democracy in Osun State is under serious threat.
“We call on Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to wade into the disturbing trend of police harassment, intimidation and persecution of our party leaders and members in Osun State as we move closer to the August 15 governorship election.”
Reacting, Fadahunsi’s media adviser, Sam Segun-Progress, dismissed the allegations, saying the lawmaker’s grassroots popularity was responsible for the concern among his political opponents.
“Fadahunsi’s grassroots appeal has always intimidated the opposition during every election season. Similar lies were screamed to the high heavens in 2014.
“Is it not strange that those who once defended Fadahunsi against such lies are now the ones inventing today’s falsehoods?
“Fadahunsi remains committed to democratic ideals and massive voter mobilisation, which is making his opponents panic and fabricate lies in preparation for their impending defeat,” Segun-Progress said.
The Osun State Police Command had earlier said Popoola was arrested over a petition dated July 4 alleging his involvement in illegal mining.