Adeleke, Osun Police Trade Words Over Alleged Witch-Hunting Of Govt Appointees
The Osun State Government has expressed concerns about the increasing pattern of entrenched political actors weaponising the Police to intimidate and harass officials as the 2026 election draws closer.
The state government, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, accused the state Police Command of witch-hunting its officials to serve a political purpose.
The statement stressed that the police in Osun state, in cooperation with some “desperate politicians”, were doing everything to criminalise officials serving in the Adeleke administration through phantom petitions.
Alimi urged the Inspector-General of the Police and the Police Service Commission to beam its searchlight to Osun state over the “unprofessional conduct of its officials”, pointing out that weaponising police to serve a political purpose is at variance with the job entrusted to the service by the Constitution and other enabling laws.
“As a Government who has shown serious commitment to law and order, we find it alarming that officials in the government are being hounded by the Police for political reasons. In a democracy like ours, holding political beliefs should not be a crime, and that is why we find it totally unacceptable for the Police to be targeting our officials on frivolous petitions,” Alimi noted.
“At a time like this, when the Police are expected to be focused on taming insecurity and keeping Nigerians safe and secure, it is distasteful to note that some officers in the Osun State Command are running political errands, acting outside their core responsibilities to shut down voices deemed to be critical of those behind their acts,” he added.
But the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, Abiodun Ojelabi, said the police were not witch-hunting any government officials but only doing their job.
Ojelabi, while speaking with a journalist, said, “They should pinpoint a particular person who was witch-hunted or a petition that was treated as if a set of people were being hunted.
“Osun State Police is making it clear that we are not witch-hunting anybody for political or any other reason. We are only doing our job professionally. If there is any of such, they should come up with concrete proof.”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
