Osun Election: First Lady Leads Protest, Demands Protection From Voter Intimidation

OSOGBO — Osun State First Lady, Mrs Titilola Adeleke, led a group of women to the state police command in Osogbo on Monday to protest alleged voter intimidation ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

Adeleke, joined by the Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Ayobola Awolowo, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Market Affairs, Mrs Eniola Omotoso, marched from Lameco through the West Bypass to the police headquarters, where they submitted a protest letter to the Commissioner overseeing election security, CP Samuel Etaifo.

The First Lady called for a peaceful and credible election, alleging that some political leaders were being targeted for arrest ahead of the poll. She specifically raised concerns over what she described as the alleged targeting of leaders associated with the Accord Party.

Adeleke also referred to the reported arrest of the Commissioner for Environment the previous Friday. She alleged that the commissioner was subjected to degrading treatment while in police custody and called on security agencies to protect political actors from intimidation.

“From what we heard, we learnt that they will start picking our leaders up this week. Last Friday, they picked up the Commissioner for Environment. He was brought here, stripped naked. This is not good enough. They should leave our people alone,” Adeleke said.

Receiving the protesters, CP Etaifo assured them that the police would work to provide a peaceful environment for the election. He said the security situation had improved since his deployment to Osun but cautioned political actors against actions that could increase tension.

“If you notice, since I came, we have relative peace in the state. But the problem we have is that we cannot continue to tolerate what you have done today because it will not contribute to peace; it will cause tension again,” Etaifo said.

The police commissioner said he was deployed to Osun on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police to stabilise the state and create conditions for all eligible voters and political actors to participate in the election. He added that the command would review the protesters’ demands and adjust its security strategy where necessary.

“We are going to go back and restrategise to attend to all your demands,” Etaifo said.