• Police arrest Adeleke’s aide in midnight raid
• Gov’s wife leads protest against arrests, intimidation of Accord members

Ahead of the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, no fewer than 73 election-related violent incidents resulting in 29 deaths have been recorded.

This was contained in the Pre-Election Security Risk Assessment (ESRA) by the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), with Osogbo emerging as the worst-hit area.

The report, presented in Abuja yesterday, identified about 12 local council areas as high-risk areas, warning that they require targeted security operations and political interventions to prevent violence and ensure a peaceful election.

The report, titled: ‘2026 Osun Election Integrity and Security Assessment: Electoral Pressures, Risk Scenarios and Strategic Mitigation Priorities’, said the principal threat to the August 15 governorship election is not widespread violence across the state but the convergence of several political, criminal, operational, social, coercive and information pressures in a limited number of locations.

The assessment said electoral violence in Osun was increasingly becoming strategic rather than merely spontaneous, with incidents concentrated around politically significant locations and capable of being used to intimidate voters, suppress turnout and influence electoral outcomes.

According to the report, 54 of the 73 election-related violent incidents, representing 78 per cent, occurred between May and July 2026, coinciding with the intensification of political activities and campaigns.

The report said the trend suggested that intense political competition had overtaken ordinary criminality as the principal source of violence in the state.

It identified shootings and killings, physical assaults, intimidation and harassment, kidnappings, destruction of property and verbal attacks among the recurring forms of electoral violence recorded during the assessment period.

Osogbo, the state capital, emerged as the principal electoral violence hotspot in the assessment.

The report recorded 22 incidents in Osogbo, resulting in 15 fatalities, making the state capital the location with the highest concentration of incidents and deaths.

The report called for coordinated action by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, political parties, traditional institutions, civil society organisations and the media.

For INEC, it recommended early deployment of personnel and materials, logistics simulations, contingency plans for difficult locations and real-time monitoring of election-day operations.

MEANWHILE, operatives of Osun State Police Command have reportedly arrested Alalade Bukola Félix, who is a Special Assistant on Media to Governor Ademola Adeleke, popularly known as Machiavelli.

Alalade was reportedly taken away from his residence in the early hours of yesterday after policemen broke down the door of his home during an operation.

The wife of the aide, Folakemi, said she and her husband were asleep when she noticed lights outside their residence.

“Yes, we were at home sleeping and I saw the traces of light through the window around 1:00 a.m. So, I tried to wake him up. I could see some reflection through the window,” she was quoted as saying yesterday.

According to her, the men outside repeatedly called her husband’s name and ordered him to come out, but the couple refused to open the door because they did not know who they were.

“So, when he woke up, they were shouting his name that he should come out, but we refused to open the door for them. So, they tried until they burst in by themselves. They broke through the door by themselves,” she said.

“When they came inside, we tried to beg them. They said no, so they took him away.”

Folakemi said the men identified themselves as policemen when the couple asked who they were, but did not state the particular command or formation they were attached to.

HOWEVER, perturbed by the alleged violence, arrest and intimidation of some members of Accord, the Osun State First Lady, Mrs Titilola Adeleke, yesterday in Osogbo, led a protest to demand for a peaceful atmosphere capable of enabling free, fair and credible governorship election on Saturday.

Accompanied by some women, including the Commissioner of Women Affairs, Ayobola Awolowo, and Special Adviser on Market to the Governor, Mrs Eniola Omotosho, the protesters marched from Laro Grammar School, to Lameco before moving to the headquarters of the state Police Command, in Osogbo.

Addressing the Commissioner of Police (CP) Election, Samuel Etaifo, the governor’s wife implored the Police to question the lawmaker representing Osun East Senatorial District, Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, Wole Oke, and Kehinde Raji over alleged cases of violence in parts of the state.

Adeleke said: “We are demanding for free and fair election in the forthcoming poll. We want peace, let there be peace, please invite Fadahunsi, Wole Oke and Kehinde Raji.”