Politics
Osun PDP Alleges Plot To Arrest Govt, Party Officials
Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that 25 state officials have been listed for arrest and abduction by special security teams from Abuja.
A statement signed by the Osun PDP Chairman, Sunday Bisi, obtained by The Tide’s source in Osogbo on Saturday, stated that the security team that would carry out the arrest planned to commence in the new week, without a warrant of arrest.
The party also said those to be arrested include four special advisers, five party leaders and 15 other state officials, who upon their arrest would be moved to Abuja.
Bisi further said the plan to arrest PDP and Osun government officials was exposed last Thursday night by some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State, who bragged that they were going to use federal might to victimise Osun government officials and some leaders of the ruling PDP.
The PDP chairman, however, called on the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to avoid political partisanship.
He said, “I want to call on President Bola Tinubu to caution members of his party in Osun because we will not allow our members to be harassed or victimised in the state. We seek Mr President’s immediate intervention.
“We are making this appeal on the premise that any hooded security operation against Osun State and party officials will amount to a direct violation of the constitution and the fundamental human rights of those officials. We will not succumb to such threats and intimidation.
“Our members and government will deploy all legal and constitutional measures to stop the planned violation of their rights. We will legally resist any plot to destabilise Osun state now under the well-loved and performing Governor Ademola Adeleke.”
But responding in another statement, Osun APC chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, described the PDP’s allegations as baseless and a mere fabrication to avoid answering pertinent questions regarding the contract procurement process supervised by the Adeleke government.
Lawal stated that apprehension being exercised by the Osun PDP was part of the ploy to mystify the issue surrounding how the state government recently awarded over N50bn road contracts to unqualified companies and cronies of the party with no technical and professional competence to execute road projects.
The APC chairman further said, “The handlers of Senator Ademola Adeleke are just being clever by half. They are perplexed and afraid to intelligently respond to our party’s revelation on how friends, family members and cronies, of the governor, with no experience in road construction, were gifted multi-billion road contracts.
“Was it the state APC that directed Governor Adeleke who doubles as the state Commissioner for Works, to award a kilometre of road for a whooping cost of N2.5 billion which is even higher than what is obtainable even in the riverine areas?
“The state leadership of the PDP should leave the APC out of the problems it might have created for itself because of political desperation. If some criminals among them, those who were involved in the maiming, killing and kidnapping of innocent members of our party, are being wanted by law enforcement agencies, the right thing for a law-abiding chairman to do is to direct the indicted members to answer the lawful summons of the security agencies, not teaching them to act fugitives as the chairman of the PDP is currently doing.
“Osun PDP and its co-travellers are groping in the daylight because of the confusion their greed has imposed on the people of Osun.”
The hostilities involving Osun PDP and APC became stronger earlier last week when the opposition party came up with allegations that Adeleke had been awarding contracts to unqualified companies of his cronies and family members.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted on the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise yesterday (Sunday) despite calls by some opposition political parties and civil society organisations for an extension over concerns that millions of citizens could be excluded from the 2027 general elections.
In a notice issued on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Saturday, the commission reminded the public that the exercise would end on Sunday, July 26, with designated registration centres open from 9am to 3pm.
“Your future won’t wait. Neither should you. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends Sunday, 26 July 2026,” the Commission stated.
INEC also reminded prospective voters that they could complete the registration process online through its dedicated CVR portal or visit designated INEC offices and registration centres nationwide for physical assistance.
The new Electoral Act stipulates that INEC is required to stop voter registration, updating and revision of the voters’ register 90 days before an election to allow for data clean-up, the printing of Permanent Voter Cards and other logistical preparations.
The law also requires the Commission to display the voters’ register for claims and objections within the stipulated period to enable eligible Nigerians to challenge omissions and errors and help ensure the credibility of the final register for the polls.
The INEC National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, Mr Mohammed Haruna, told The Tide source that the Commission would not extend the deadline, stressing that the registration exercise had to close to allow the electoral body to begin cleaning the data already collected.
“By midnight on Sunday, voter registration ends. There won’t be any extension. There are so many things that we need to do at the back end. We have to draw a line; otherwise, we won’t be able to produce a clean copy of what has been posted,” he said.
Mr Haruna explained that the commission’s Information Technology team and the Voter Registration Department would begin processing the data immediately after the closure of the registration window.
He said INEC would deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System to detect and remove multiple registrations before the provisional voters’ register is displayed for public scrutiny.
“We have this automatic biometric system that will check whether somebody has registered more than once. They will publish the register for claims and objections. That is, if anybody thinks a name shouldn’t be on the register, or if he has some claims, for instance, that his name has been omitted or some of his details are incorrect,” he said.
According to him, the final number of newly registered voters would only be known after the biometric verification and the claims and objections process.
“So, it’s after all that has been done that we will have a final figure, which we will now add to the existing 93 million or so. That will then become the voters’ register. We are mandated to give every political party a copy ahead of the election,” Mr Haruna added.
Responding to concerns over the number of Nigerians who may be excluded from the 2027 electoral process by the closure, the national commissioner said INEC could only account for eligible citizens who presented themselves for registration.
He added that the commission had recorded registrations through its online platform, physical registration centres and INEC offices across the 774 local government areas.
According to a public announcement signed by Mr Ariyo Rufus, Head of Department, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Inclusivity on behalf of Mr Oluwatoyin Babalola, the INEC Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), the said exercise is aimed at assessing its operational readiness and testing the efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the governorship poll.
INEC stated that the exercise would simulate Election Day accreditation procedures but clarified that no voting would take place during the exercise.
The commission explained that “the mock accreditation would be conducted in selected polling units spread across the three senatorial districts of Osun State, covering Osun Central, Osun East and Osun West.
“In Osun Central Senatorial District, the selected local government areas are Osogbo, Olorunda, Ifelodun and Boripe, with designated polling units identified for the exercise.
“For Osun East Senatorial District, the exercise will take place in selected polling units across Ilesa West, Ilesa East, Oriade and Obokun local government areas.”
INEC also listed Egbedore, Ede North, Ede South and Ejigbo local government areas as the selected councils for the mock accreditation exercise in Osun West Senatorial District.
The commission urged all registered voters whose polling units were selected to participate in the exercise, stressing that only holders of valid Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would be accredited.
“This exercise is designed to test the functionality and efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) under conditions similar to Election Day. There shall be no voting during the exercise,” the Commission stated.
INEC reaffirmed its appreciation to residents of Osun State for their continued cooperation and support throughout the electoral process.
INEC also assured political parties, the media, civil society organisations and other stakeholders of the Commission’s commitment to conducting a free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive governorship election in Osun State.
Mr Dare made the remark while criticizing Alhaji Abubakar for hiring a United States of America lobbyist with $1.2 million, in preparation for the 2027 elections.
In a statement he personally signed, Mr Dare said the former vice president can’t take Nigeria down the path of self-destruction.
The statement read in part: “Worse still, for a man who presumes to offer leadership to Africa’s most populous nation, his recent resort to grievance offshoring, outsourcing political warfare to Washington and reportedly paying $1.2 million to an American lobbying firm to peddle petitions against a sitting Nigerian President, stands as an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a vote of no confidence in its democratic institutions.
“It is also a stinging slight, an implicit condescension directed at generations of Nigerian journalists, policy analysts, academics, and public intellectuals who have spent decades analysing, critiquing, and carrying the burden of the nation’s democratic evolution.
“The Atiku Abubakar of today cuts a pitiable figure, a grotesque portrait of what a politician becomes when ambition overwhelms judgment and every political faculty becomes programmed for self-destruction.
“No, Atiku cannot take Nigeria down that path with him. He must travel it alone. But first, Nigerians deserve Atiku Abubakar’s report card. Charity, they say, begins at home, not in Washington.
“Nigerians deserve to know whether the Atiku Abubakar who has long presented himself as a democrat is, in reality, a politician of many colours. He has erected for himself a throne built simultaneously on sand and bayonets. It is time to explode the bayonets.”
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