Osun State Police Command has dismissed allegations by the Imole Campaign Council that it compiled a list of political figures for arrest ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The police also insisted that its operations are aimed solely at combating crime across the state.
The allegations were made on Sunday by The Imole Campaign Council, TICC, which is coordinating the re-election campaign of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
The council claimed that the police had drawn up a list of 46 individuals, including a serving commissioner, for arrest before the election.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo, the Deputy Director-General of the campaign council, Kolapo Alimi, alleged that most of those listed were from Ikire, the headquarters of Irewole Local Government Area.
He claimed that the Commissioner for Energy, Ademola Adeyemo, was among those allegedly marked for arrest.
Alimi also alleged that an Accord chieftain in Ikire, Taofeek Akinyemi, who was reportedly shot by hoodlums, was arrested and detained after reporting the incident to the police.
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment further accused an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, of collaborating with political opponents to facilitate the alleged mass arrest of Accord members in Ikire as part of a plan to disrupt the party’s campaign activities.
He said, “Even more alarming are the credible security reports reaching the leadership of the Imole Campaign Council regarding a coordinated ‘hit list’ drawn up by political opponents in collusion with compromised security operatives. Several leaders of the Accord Party and prominent opposition figures have been penned down for systematic, unlawful arrests in the days leading up to the election.”
Alimi further alleged that the 46 individuals listed for arrest included “Ademola Adeyemo, Idris Idowu Jooda, Pastor Paul Akinola, Mukaila Yusuf, Dr Kazeem Atoba, Yesiru Olaniyi, Alhaji Olokeola, Wale Olunloye, Taye Adeyemo, Moshood Jolaiya, Lere Ogungbade, Kola Akinpelu, Tiri Adepoju and Pastor Femi Oladiran, among others.”
He demanded the immediate release of Akinyemi or his arraignment before a competent court. Alimi also called on the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to direct the Osun State Police Command, the State Criminal Investigation Department and special squads from Abuja to halt what he described as arbitrary arrests and harassment of opposition leaders.
The campaign council additionally urged the Force Headquarters to review security deployments to Osun ahead of the election, insisting that only professional, neutral and impartial security personnel should be assigned to election duties.
Responding to the allegations, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Osun State Police Command, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, denied that the police had compiled any arrest list or were targeting members of any political party.
Ojelabi said, “We are raiding black spots and criminal hideouts every day to sanitise the environment for the forthcoming election, and this raid is not targeted at any individual, group of persons or political party. It is targeted at criminal hideouts. We don’t have any list anywhere; the police do not formulate any list.”
He added that the command would continue intelligence-led operations against criminal elements, urging parents to discourage their children from late-night movements and association with individuals with criminal records.
Ojelabi also noted that while the state government had proposed a joint security task force, the police had yet to see its implementation, saying such an arrangement would demonstrate that security operations were not being carried out by the police alone.