The Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adewale Egbedun, has accused the state’s Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, of allegedly orchestrating plans to frame and arrest him ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
Gatekeepers News reports that Egbedun made the allegation while reacting to the arrest of the Secretary to the Osun State Government (SSG), Teslim Igbalaye, and five others over alleged vote-buying.
The SSG and the other suspects were arrested on Wednesday after operatives of the Osun State Police Command raided Igbalaye’s residence in Osogbo.
According to the police, officers recovered N4.8 million in cash, a Dynabook laptop, a photocopy machine, a printer, two permanent voter cards and a voter register covering wards 1 to 15. The police said the items raised suspicion of possible electoral offences and other criminal activities.
Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Egbedun described the SSG’s arrest as an abuse of power, alleging that the police commissioner had been targeting him for weeks.
The speaker claimed he had received intelligence suggesting that some police officers had been directed to devise ways to implicate and arrest him before the election.
He traced the alleged hostility to an earlier disagreement with the commissioner over what he described as intelligence reports that suspected APC thugs planned to attack his residence.
Egbedun alleged that while he and his security team were preparing for the reported threat, the commissioner ordered all police officers attached to him to report to the command headquarters for questioning.
According to him, he confronted the police commissioner and insisted he would neither be intimidated nor leave Osun State because of any perceived threat.
Egbedun also dismissed the allegations against Igbalaye, insisting the SSG’s arrest had nothing to do with vote-buying.
He claimed the incident stemmed from an INEC stakeholders’ meeting held in Osogbo on Wednesday, where the commissioner was allegedly booed by attendees. According to the speaker, Igbalaye laughed during the incident, after which the police commissioner allegedly made a series of phone calls.
Egbedun said he immediately predicted that the SSG would be arrested, adding that minutes later, Igbalaye received a call informing him that police officers were waiting at his residence. The SSG later informed him that he had been taken into custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The speaker called on the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene, alleging that residents of the state were being subjected to intimidation under the leadership of the police commissioner.
As of the time of reporting, the Osun State Police Command had not responded to Egbedun’s allegations.
The accusations come amid heightened political tension ahead of the August 15 governorship election, with rival political camps exchanging accusations as campaigns intensify.
Governor Ademola Adeleke has repeatedly maintained that Osun residents will resist any form of intimidation or external interference during the electoral process.
