Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has advocated economic sanctions and visa ban on some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
A statement obtained in Osogbo on Monday signed by the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, said Adeleke’s demands came amidst alleged political killing of an Accord member at Ijebu-Jesa.
He noted that five Accord members have been killed, while 15 others were critically wounded by suspected APC thugs since the commencement of the 2026 political campaigns.
Adeleke, who tasked security agencies to go after suspects and their sponsors, also said publicly available utterances and actions of top Osun APC leaders and chieftains justified his call for economic sanctions and visa ban on them.
“I believe we must have a deterrent against those promoting political violence. We seek visa ban against politicians sponsoring killings and violent attacks. We advocate for similar sanctions against security chiefs aiding and abetting such anti-democratic activities.
“Election is not about bloodshed. Osun deserves the peace and freedom to make their choice about who govern them. There must be consequences for those deliberately endangering the lives of our people for selfish political gains,” the governor told the British team led by the Senior Political Advisor, Wale Adebajo.
Responding, Adebajo told the governor the team was in the state as part of pre – election peace building efforts alongside other partners, assuring that the British government supports peaceful and transparent electoral process.
He assured all that the diplomatic team will engage with all stakeholders to ensure peaceful environment for the August 15th polls while preaching the imperative of free and fair polls.
In a swift reaction, the Osun APC in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, accused Adeleke of misinforming the delegation of the British Government on the forthcoming governorship election.
The APC spokesperson also said the claim credited to the governor exposed his confusion on what to do in a bid to hold on to power against people’s wishes.
Dismissing Adeleke’s allegations, Osun APC said the governor was guilty of the crimes he had tried to hang on the party, its leaders and members.
“If we may ask, which court or commission of enquiry indicted the APC chieftains as being responsible for aiding and abetting political violence in Osun State ahead of the forthcoming governorship election?
“One would have thought that the lying and grossly incompetent governor would be bold enough to tell the visiting delegation of the British Government how he has been frustrating the job of the police by harbouring dangerous political hoodlums in the Government House to evade arrest.
“How did it elude the memory of the outgoing Governor Adeleke to tell his guests that no fewer than 30 members and supporters of our party were dispatched to heaven by the defunct Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs before the 2022 governorship election?,” Olabisi said.
He also said Adeleke was desperate for re-election but failed to inform the visiting delegation of the British Government that some of his aides were standing trial in an Abuja Court over the killing of Mr Remi Abass, a former chairman of Irewole Local Government Council Area.
Olabisi further said, “We want to inform the visiting British Government delegation to Osun State to disregard the accusations of our chieftains and members of aiding and abetting political violence in Osun State as past events have shown that Governor Adeleke has been using lies, falsehoods and subterfuge to run his government.”