{"id":35641,"date":"2026-07-31T09:39:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T08:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=35641"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T08:39:47","slug":"osun-government-raises-concerns-over-police-raid-calls-for-due-process-ahead-of-2026-governorship-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/31\/osun-government-raises-concerns-over-police-raid-calls-for-due-process-ahead-of-2026-governorship-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Osun Government Raises Concerns Over Police Raid, Calls for Due Process Ahead of 2026 Governorship Election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Osun State Government has raised concerns over the recent police raid on the residence of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the arrest of individuals found at the property, and the subsequent detention of the SSG after he voluntarily reported to the police. Addressing journalists in Osogbo, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Osun State, Honourable Oluwole Jimi-Bada, SAN, said the government recognises the constitutional responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force to investigate alleged offences but insisted that all law enforcement actions must comply with constitutional safeguards and principles of fairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimi-Bada stated that the SSG was not present when his residence was raided and had voluntarily gone to the Force Headquarters to assist with the investigation and seek bail for those arrested. He expressed concern that a public official who willingly cooperated with authorities was subsequently detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Attorney-General questioned the basis for allegations of vote-buying linked to the incident, noting that the governorship election in Osun State is scheduled for Aug. 15, 2026, and that no voting activities were taking place on the date of the incident. He argued that political activities such as mobilisation, transportation arrangements, party meetings and other lawful logistics should not automatically be classified as electoral offences without credible evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also challenged claims reportedly involving Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and printed voter registers found at the residence. According to him, possession of personal PVCs or voter register materials legally provided to political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not, by itself, establish criminal conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Permanent Voter Cards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jimi-Bada further argued that criminal responsibility is personal and that an allegation against one individual found at the residence cannot automatically make the SSG a suspect. He stressed that the law does not recognise guilt by association and that authorities must provide specific evidence linking any person to an alleged offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Osun Government called on the Inspector-General of Police to review the circumstances surrounding the incident and ensure that security agencies maintain neutrality, professionalism and public confidence, particularly in the period leading up to the governorship election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government demanded clarity on the specific allegations against each arrested person, urged respect for constitutional rights and called for the release of those detained unless authorities have sufficient evidence to bring charges before a competent court. Jimi-Bada warned against selective enforcement, media trials and the criminalisation of lawful political activities, while reaffirming that the state government does not support electoral malpractice, violence or any unlawful conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged residents, political parties and security agencies to remain calm and committed to democratic principles, emphasising that the forthcoming election should be determined by the people of Osun State through a free, fair and peaceful process. “The protection of democracy depends on the rule of law, neutrality of institutions, and respect for constitutional rights,\u201d the Attorney-General said, reaffirming his commitment to due process and justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Osun State Government has raised concerns over the recent police raid on the residence of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the arrest of individuals found at the property, and the subsequent detention of the SSG after he voluntarily reported to the police. Addressing journalists in Osogbo, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":35643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,3,1138],"tags":[21873,123,21875,21872,21874,21871,21876],"class_list":["post-35641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-naija-news","category-politics","tag-inspector-general-of-police-2","tag-nigeria-police-force","tag-oluwole-jimi-bada","tag-osun-governorship-election-2026","tag-osun-ssg","tag-osun-state-government","tag-vote-buying-allegations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-31-at-9.09.02-AM.jpeg?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35641"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35646,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641\/revisions\/35646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}