Until the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, released a curious statement seeking to justify this week’s detention of the Secretary to the Government (SSG) of Osun State, Alhaji Teslim Igbalaye, I had honestly given no thought to happenings in Osun State.  Like the Ekiti State election won by Biodun Oyebanji, the forthcoming Osun State election promises to be an Ademola Adeleke affair, unless someone chooses to undermine the people’s will. I am no spokesman for Adeleke and have no stake in Osun beyond the state being my mother’s state of origin, but I write exactly what I see on all issues without the slightest care for anyone’s qualms. As I said before, the state governor ought to be in his second term of office by now if not for electoral robbery, but that’s not even the meat of this piece.

Many Nigerians naturally received news of the arrest of the Osun SSG with a mixture of shock and bewilderment, not because politicians aren’t capable of dark deeds, but because of the climate of oppression foisted on the state and the reasons adduced for the action. According to the Osun police authorities, they were acting “on credible and actionable intelligence that some criminal gangs were hibernating around Oroki Estate Area, Osogbo,” and therefore “carried out a lawful operation within the environs, during which one suspect identified as Abiodun Arowomole, popularly known as ‘Ashipa’, who has been on the watch-list in connection with serious criminal offences including murder, was arrested at a residential property linked to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) of Osun State.”

A suspected murderer cannot be on a mere watchlist, but let’s ignore the slip here, if slip indeed it was. If a murder suspect was arrested at a residence belonging to the SSG, that was the right thing to do. But the statement then went on to say that the Osun police “recovered exhibits comprising a cash sum of N4,810,500, one Dynabook laptop, one photocopy machine, one printer, two voter’s cards, and a voter register for wards 1-15,” and that “these exhibits have been secured and are currently in police custody for detailed forensic examination and further investigation.” Then came this line: “The recovery of the cash and the register containing voters’ details raises serious concerns regarding possible electoral offences and other criminal activities.” The statement added that there were reasonable grounds to investigate offences which may include: Bribery of Voters (Vote Buying) contrary to Section 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, Criminal Conspiracy, and Harboring or Concealing a Wanted Criminal.”

A detailed forensic examination of N4.8 million and two voter cards in the residence of the SSG of a state? What does that even mean? How do you forensically examine N4.8 million? Are there details in the currency, which the SSG has the lawful right to possess, that will prove it is intended for vote buying? Then what is this business of saying that a voter register — a public document— and two PVCs point to suspected vote buying?

If the command was concerned about electoral credibility, it would have launched an inquiry targeting politicians on different platforms, instead of engaging in a partisan witch-hunt and fishing for evidence. A fishing expedition describes an attempt to obtain evidence through broad, speculative, or unfocused inquiries in the hope that something incriminating will turn up. Courts generally frown on it because it can be oppressive, burdensome, and unrelated to the issues in dispute. Here is a submission from Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (Wex): “A fishing expedition is an overly broad investigation or demand for information. In litigation, it commonly refers to using the discovery process to seek excessive information based on mere suspicion or speculation rather than concrete ground.” This is what I clearly see in the present case. I can’t accept the suggestion that Governor Adeleke and his men are criminals but the ruling party and its men are not. That’s both illogical and ahistorical.

For some time now, the Osun State government has queried the conduct of CP Gotan, and if the account by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, is anything to go by, his case becomes even messier. According to Egbedun, the Deputy Governor, the SSG and himself were all present at the INEC Stakeholders’ meeting where CP Gotan was booed on the podium by citizens of Osun State. Egbedun alleged that immediately after returning to his seat, the CP looked towards them, and at that moment the SSG laughed. He claimed that he saw the Commissioner picking up his telephone and making a series of calls, and then turned to the SSG and warned him that the CP had likely ordered his arrest. Minutes later, Egbedun said the SSG received a call informing him that police officers were waiting at his residence. When contacted afterward, the SSG told him he had been invited to the State CID because the police allegedly recovered N4 million and two voter cards belonging to members of his political party who were holding a meeting within his compound.

Egbedun also spoke about a separate encounter with the same officer. He said that at one point he received credible intelligence that certain thugs were planning to attack his residence, so he and his security personnel remained on alert. To his surprise, his police orderly received a call from CP Gotan directing that every police officer attached to him should report to the Commissioner’s office for questioning that same day. Egbedun said he then called the CP and told him he was a proud son of Onikoyi, and would not fear or bow to intimidation. He made it clear that he would not abandon his state or ancestral home because of anyone.

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In the context of allegations by the leadership of the Accord Party that at least 86 of its members in Osun State had been arrested on various trumped-up charges, with some ferried to Abuja, Nigerians can’t take Egbedun’s account lightly. Egbedun has no history of flippancy in public utterances, and the open muzzling of opposition parties that Nigerians have witnessed for some time now raises legitimate concern. As a matter of fact, it took a ruling by the Court of Appeal, after a Federal High Court judge engaged in judicial ambush, to even guarantee that the Osun State governor and his party can vote and be voted for in the forthcoming elections.

In Nigeria, ruling parties regularly get powerful members of the opposition out of circulation shortly before elections. They are either in police cells or under house arrest. Many even disappear, never to be found.

If the Osun police authorities truly “wish to assure the good people of Osun State that the Nigeria Police Force remains steadfast in its constitutional responsibility to enforce the law without fear or favour, affection or ill will,” they must first regain the people’s trust. I seriously hope Ibrahim Gotan isn’t another Mathew Mbu, whose rudeness to Governor Rotimi Amaechi shocked even critics of the then governor in 2013/2014. A Commissioner of Police booed in an open forum for acting the script of federal powers in a state cannot guarantee the security of anybody.