Blood for power in Osun; FG, phantom agencies, and repentant terrorists

Osun: On the crest of violence

Since Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999, Osun State has been in the news for all sorts of political violence that have claimed several lives.

In the last few months ahead of the off-cycle gubernatorial election scheduled for August 15, 2026, official sources said that about 30 people have been murdered. The killings, the Police said, were politically-motivated.

For several months now, Osun State has been a battle ground for political actors who are in struggle for the control of power. The sitting governor, Ademola Adeleke, and some powerful elements of the state are at daggers-drawn.

While Adeleke’s political foes want him out by all means on the allegation that he has been a liability to the state, and have described his administration as a failure, the state government on the other hand has pointed fingers at chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly those holding appointments at the federal level, as stoking the fire of hate and violence in the state.

The quest to exercise political power in Osun is turning the state into a killing field ahead of the off-cycle gubernatorial election in August.

The spat going on over what has been described in the government circles as a phantom agency is an eye-popping scandal that must not be swept under the carpet.

The war against insurgency and banditry must be seen to be sincerely prosecuted. Many things are not just adding up.

Supporters of the two leading parties have continued to hurl allegations against one another over who the real culprits are. A lot of bad-mouthing and finger-pointing is going on.

Remi Omowaiye, spokesperson of the APC in Osun, Tuesday, alleged that it was the Accord Party members that were causing mayhem in the state, alleging that about 95 percent of the number of people killed in the state were APC members. He said that they were assassinated by the supporters of the Accord Party.

He refused to accept that the violence was the handiwork of both APC and Accord supporters. He also refused to admit the fact that Accord Party members could not possibly be the ones pulling down and destroying billboards and posters belonging to their own party.

The APC spokesperson also alleged that the murdered supporters of the Accord were killed in cult-related violence and had nothing to do with the Osun politics.

But his claims were pooh-poohed Wednesday by Bamidele Salam, chairman, media and publicity committee, Imole Campaign Council, who said that it was not possible for Accord members to be the aggressors.

He alleged that one of the popular supporters of Governor Adeleke, Ajayi Aderogba, was murdered by unidentified gunmen in Esa-Oke, Osun State, on the evening of June 23, 2026, because he refused to switch camp.

He claimed that some chieftains of the APC had mounted pressure on him to dump Accord but that Aderogba’s continued resistance may have led to his assassination.

Aniette Iniedu, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), who spoke in an interview session with Channels Television Tuesday morning, merely sand-papered the real issues in the state.

Although he acknowledged that a huge number of indigenes of Osun have been killed in politically-motivated cross-fire, he refused to say what the Police investigations have shown over those responsible for the cold-blooded murders. He also did not disclose how many people were in the Police net over the killings. He was not just forthcoming with expected responses, at least, to provide worthy route to resolving the impasse. His disposition raised question as to why he bothered to appear for the interview in the first place.

A few days ago, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tunji Disu, visited Osun, where he issued a stern warning to the perpetrators of the crisis in the state.

Disu was said to have pointedly told the governor that he heard that he was harbouring killers in the Government House, challenging him to play the fatherly-role he was expected to play as governor.

The IGP also tongue-lashed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ibrahim Gotan. Since he resumed as state police commissioner in Osun on June 17, 2025, Gotan has faced public scrutiny and tension. Civil society groups and Governor Adeleke have voiced concerns over his alleged partisan conduct and the detention of political aides.

Disu warned him to desist henceforth from being used to destabilise the state.

The seed of the current standoff in Osun was sown since Adeleke was elected as the governor on July 16, 2022, and officially sworn into office on November 27, 2022.

Pundits say that the reason for the high-level violence being experienced in the state at the moment is because the privileged sons and daughters of the state who are now among the power brokers in Abuja are not comfortable that Osun is under an opposition party. Such individuals consider it as a slap on their face and that of the APC. This narrative has remained in the realm of allegation as it has not been confirmed.

Before he decamped to the Accord, Governor Adeleke made frantic efforts to join the APC as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ceased to be a viable platform owing to the internal wrangling that has consumed the once-powerful party. Leaders of the APC strongly resisted his moves in that regard. They pointedly told him, in an unmistakable term, that they did not need him in the broom party, and that they just wanted to disgracefully trounce him at the poll.

Although there have always been politically-related skirmishes in Osun State, the incidence appears to be on the rise at present.

It is on record that Adeleke has been having a running battle with the APC-led federal government over the non-release of the standard statutory allocations directly to the Accord Party local government administration in Osun State.

The withholding of these funds by the federal government is rooted in a leadership dispute stemming from the February 2025 local government election, which the APC contested as unlawful. The FG previously stated that it only recognised democratically elected councils entitled to direct allocation and refused to release the funds to the Accord-backed officials.

Reports had it that there was also a fresh killing in parts of the state after the IG’s visit. This has strengthened the opinion being expressed by many close observers that beyond the Inspector-General’s mediation, the solution to the crisis can only be achieved by politicians themselves moderating their ambitions, by realising that the lives of their people matter more than political offices.

They must all give peace a chance; after all, power is ephemeral and also transient.

PFIPC: All eyes on ICPC

Divergent opinions are being bandied over the scandal rocking the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) hitherto being controlled by Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, who is now being dubbed a safe-styled Director-General.

Nigerians are waiting with a bated breath for the result of the investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as ordered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Tuesday.

The countdown has already begun. But whatever may be the outcome of the investigation, the development has shown how porous the system is.

The questions that many critical minds have been asking since the news broke are: How is it possible that a phantom agency could wing its way into the deepest recesses of government to the point of having a line budget, an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); receiving high profile foreign visitors on behalf of the government; having an office at the federal secretariat, recruited 300 members of staff in August 2025, and wining and dining with who-is-who in the current government?

Although the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has said that the PFIPC has no operational account with the CBN, does that indicate a possibility of making deposit into a personal account under the collusion of interested parties in the corridors of power?

A review of the 2026 Appropriation Act also indicates that the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council is expressly listed under the presidency, with a total budget of N1,302,978,784.

The allocation includes N802,978,783 for personnel costs, N200,000,001 for overhead expenditure and N300,000,000 for capital projects.

If the President has said that he had absolute confidence in the Chief of Staff, would that not mean compromising the investigation he ordered? Does that not mean putting the cart before the horse?

Another nagging question on the mind of many Nigerians is, how many of such so-called phantom agencies exist in the corridors of power?

Nigerians are being treated with all shades of shenanigan happening around government. Recently, a story trended on the social media space about a businesswoman and politician, Halimat Adenike Tejuosho, who disclosed she was swindled of huge sums of money by a syndicate that promised her a lucrative appointment in government.

She also said that the syndicate defrauded some other persons she introduced to them, who paid several millions of naira and in foreign currencies to the swindlers.

It is hoped that the ICPC will go to the root of the Adeyemi-Gbajabiamila imbroglio as it is capable of revealing a lot more hanky-panky deals, to Nigerians.

Insecurity war without rhetoric

Many Nigerians have continued to hear about the use of kinetic and non-kinetic strategies in the fight against banditry and terrorism. The one that has attracted opprobrium to the military, by extension, the Federal Government, is the later: non-kinetic.

Non-kinetic refers to actions, strategies, or operations that achieve their objectives without relying on physical force, violence, or direct lethal damage. The question is, is it really achieving the desired result for Nigeria?

While a few of those who have done so attest to their effectiveness, many have said that the exercise amounted to the long-held aphorism that a leopard does not change his spots.

A few days ago, some communities in Yobe State reportedly resisted the reintegration of “repentant” Boko Haram insurgents into their midst. They insisted that such elements cannot be free from the destructive indoctrination they had received.

The Senate Tuesday also opposed the Federal Government’s policy of rehabilitating and reintegrating former Boko Haram insurgents into society, arguing that the programme undermines justice for victims of terrorism and weakens the nation’s fight against insecurity.

Many observers have wondered if the federal government has come to its wit’s end with the fight against insurgency as to settle for such a defeatist option.

The popular opinion is that the federal government should not reintroduce killers and blood-sucking vampires into the same communities they had vulgarised.

Some of these terrorists and bandits may have embraced rehabilitation, pretending to have a change of mind just to have an express enlistment into the military.

Although the Federal Government may be beating its chest over a few convictions secured against some perpetrators of violence, the truth remains that the chieftains and sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria are not yet touched. They are still potent doing their heinous activities. Can Abuja claim ignorance of their existence?

Former president Goodluck Jonathan cried out that members of the Boko Haram insurgent group had infiltrated his government. He made the declaration during his tenure, explaining that the presence of these sympathisers or members within his administration made it difficult to combat the group, as sensitive security and military movements were allegedly being leaked to the insurgents. Has this ceased to be the case? If not, what is the current administration doing in that regard?

A sitting governor in the present dispensation came up to say that they know the bandits and terrorists, but that they lacked the wherewithal to fight them.

Nigerians recently viewed with consternation, some pictures where kidnappers released the body of the late retired Major General Rabe Abubakar to the Katsina State Government.

There are reports about rogue elements at the highest military echelon who allegedly collude with terrorists by leaking Intelligence reports, and providing them with other assistance.

It is said that everywhere one turns in Nigeria these days, it is a sinking sand! No solid rock anywhere!