Osun accuses police of invading SSG, commissioners’ homes

The Osun State Government has accused the state command of the Nigerian Police Force of systematically invading the residences of top government officials, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Teslim Igbalaiye, without proper search warrants. The government claims that family members of the SSG were arrested and taken to unknown destinations during the raid.

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The Osun State Government has raised alarm over systematic invasion, attacks and bursting of homes of top Osun State government officials by the Osun state police command without proper search warrant, with the latest being the invasion of the house of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, stated that the SSG's residence was "bursted" by a combined team of police officers led by the Deputy Commissioner for Operations. This incident followed similar raids and arrests at the homes of about six other commissioners and top government functionaries. Alimi also reported that the Commissioner for Energy's residence in Ikire was ransacked, with significant property damage.

Alimi further alleged that several Accord party members are being held in police custody without bail. The state government views these raids as an "aggravated assault on the government and people of Osun state" and a "campaign of repression" that poses a grave danger to democracy. The government asserts that the police command has confirmed its partiality and partisanship, acting as a direct tool for the state's All Progressives Congress (APC) party.

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These raids on the SSG and our commissioners are an aggravated assault on the government and people of Osun state. This campaign of repression constitutes grave danger to democracy. It is a reprehensible unprofessional conduct by the police in support of the state APC.

According to the statement, the police command's actions are a violation of the constitution and an example of unprofessional conduct. The government contends that by openly attacking Osun government officials, the police have become lawless and are acting against the spirit and letter of the constitution.

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By openly launching attacks on Osun government officials, the state police command has again confirmed its partiality, its partisanship and its becoming a direct tool in the hands of Osun APC. This is a law enforcement agency becoming lawless and acting against the spirit and letters of the constitution.