Osun Police Raid Row Sparks Alarm Ahead of August Poll

As Osun edges towards a tense governorship poll, the state government has accused police operatives of turning homes into hunting grounds, in a move it says could poison the credibility of the election.

Atlantic Post

July 29, 2026

3–5 minutes

Accord Party, Ademola Adeleke, INEC, Nigeria Police Force, Osun State, Teslim Igbalaye

OSOGBO, Nigeria — Osun State has been thrown into another round of political and security tension after the state government accused the police of carrying out what it described as coordinated raids on the homes of senior officials, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Teslim Igbalaye.

The allegation, made on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, comes at a sensitive time in the build-up to the state’s governorship election on 15 August, and has intensified fears that the contest may already be sliding into a dangerous confrontation between power, policing and politics.

According to the Osun State Government’s statement, police officers allegedly stormed the SSG’s residence without a search warrant, arrested family members who were on the premises, and whisked them away to undisclosed locations.

The government further claimed that the operation was led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, and said the raid followed similar actions at the homes of about six commissioners and other top officials.

It also alleged that the residence of the Commissioner for Energy in Ikire was raided on Tuesday, with property damaged during the search.

The state government did not hide its anger. In language that underscored how seriously it is treating the matter, the statement described the raids as an “aggravated assault” on the government and people of Osun State, and accused the police of acting with “partisanship” and in support of the APC.

It also warned that the police had become a “major threat” to a free and fair election in the state. Those are explosive claims, and whether they can be substantiated will matter enormously in the coming days.

What makes the allegation even more politically combustible is the timing. The state government said the SSG was away at an INEC stakeholders’ forum when the raid allegedly occurred, while ward officials were said to be meeting inside the compound.

Separately, INEC had already been signalling the fragility of the Osun contest: at a media stakeholders’ forum in Osogbo on 30 June 2026, the Commission warned that vote buying remained a major threat, disclosed that Osun had more than 2.3 million registered voters, and said 14 political parties were fielding candidates for the 15 August election.

The police command has not yet given a detailed rebuttal in the material available at the time of filing. In The PUNCH report, the police spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, was quoted as asking for more time before responding to the allegations. That delay may be routine, but in a climate already thick with suspicion, silence rarely helps calm the temperature.

This latest row does not sit in isolation. Only weeks earlier, the Accord Party had openly demanded the redeployment of Osun’s Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, ahead of the governorship election, saying it had lost confidence in his ability to manage rising insecurity and guarantee a secure environment for political participation.

The party also urged President Bola Tinubu, the Inspector-General of Police, the DSS and the National Security Adviser to intervene. That earlier appeal gives the present allegations extra weight, because it suggests the current crisis has been building for some time rather than erupting overnight.

Security agencies have also been publicly grappling with the wider volatility in the state. In late June, the Osun State Police Command convened a stakeholders’ peace meeting with the military, INEC and political actors after a surge in killings and attacks by suspected political thugs.

At that meeting, the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, promised to intensify efforts to curb the violence and warned against the destruction or removal of campaign materials. That context matters, because it shows that the current accusation lands on top of an already strained pre-election security architecture.

For Osun residents, the real question is no longer simply whether the raids happened exactly as alleged, but whether the institutions meant to protect the electoral process are now being viewed as instruments inside the political contest.

If the state government’s claims are accurate, they raise serious concerns about due process, impartial enforcement and the shrinking space for trust ahead of the polls. If the claims are exaggerated or incomplete, then the police will need to say so quickly and clearly, because in an election season like this, vacuum breeds rumour, and rumour can become violence. That is the danger Osun is now staring at.