Osun Govt Accuses Police of Targeted Raids on Top Officials, Says SSG’s Residence Invaded

By Omidiran Seun

The Osun State Government has accused the Osun State Police Command of carrying out coordinated raids targeting senior officials of the administration.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, said the latest incident was the invasion of the residence of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG.

Alimi said a combined team of police officers, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, stormed the SSG’s residence and whisked away family members to an unknown destination.

According to him, the SSG was not at home during the raid as he was attending a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, while ward officials were holding a meeting within the compound when the operatives arrived.

The government alleged that the raid on the SSG’s house was part of a pattern, coming after similar operations at the homes of six commissioners and other top government functionaries.

It claimed that the residence of the Commissioner for Energy in Ikire was raided on Monday, with property allegedly ransacked and destroyed, while five other commissioners reported that their houses were either under surveillance or had been raided.

The statement further alleged that several members of the Accord Party are being detained in cells at the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, without bail.

The government described the raids as “an aggravated assault on the government and people of Osun State” and “a campaign of repression” that poses a danger to democracy, accusing the police command of partisanship and acting as a tool of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“This is a law enforcement agency becoming lawless and acting against the spirit and letters of the constitution,” the statement said.

It called on traditional rulers, the Police Service Commission, the Inspector-General of Police, the National Security Adviser, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene to prevent a breakdown of law and order, noting that the alleged actions were occurring at a time the INEC National Chairman was meeting with stakeholders in the state ahead of elections.

“Our governor has consistently tasked the populace to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands. The situation is reaching a boiling point. We must save our democracy from these lawless elements within the Nigerian police,” the statement added.