Osun Election 2026: Police Have 100 Suspected Election Disruptors In Custody — CP 

The Commissioner of Police in charge of the 2026 Osun governorship election, Erale Samuel Etaifo, said about 100 people have been in custody over alleged plans to disrupt the governorship election for the past one month. 

He, however, said no arrests have been made today (so far) as a result of electoral violence in Saturday’s ongoing governorship election in the state.

Etaifo disclosed this on Saturday while speaking with Channels Television during the poll.

Etaifo said the suspects were picked up over the past month as part of efforts to prevent violence and other disruptions during the election.

According to him, some of those arrested allegedly came into Osun from neighbouring states, including Ondo and Ekiti, with the intention of causing trouble.

“We have about 100. I can guarantee 100 because the IG sent me here to come and pacify and stabilise the state. For the past one month, we’ve been going around picking them. Some people came from Ekiti, Ondo, you can name all sorts of where, just to come and disturb. So we have some of them in custody,” he said.

The police commissioner, however, said no arrest had been made on Saturday as a result of electoral violence, explaining that there had been no reason to make such arrests as of the time of the interview.

“For now, none, because there’s no reason for it,” Etaifo said when asked how many people had been arrested on election day.

He also assured Nigerians that the police were committed to ensuring a free, fair, transparent and credible election.

Addressing allegations by Governor Ademola Adeleke concerning a police officer allegedly deployed from Port Harcourt and identified as “London”, Etaifo said the Inspector-General of Police had the authority to deploy serving officers to any part of the country.

“The most important thing you need to know, every police officer has the right—the IG has the right to deploy any police officer to anywhere within Nigeria and abroad,” he said.

Etaifo said the election was not about an individual police officer but about Nigeria, adding that officers had been deployed to areas considered volatile to strengthen security.

He disclosed that two senior police officers had been deployed to Ede, including Gabriel Eliagu and Raymond Egbe, whom he described as an officer attached to INEC-related duties in Abuja.

According to him, their deployment was intended to strengthen security in Ede, which he identified as one of the volatile areas in the state.

“Can that kind of person working with INEC compromise?” he asked, while defending the deployment of senior officers to the area.

The commissioner also spoke on allegations of vote buying during the election. When informed that reports of money allegedly being distributed at a polling unit in Ejigbo had emerged, he said he would verify the information with the police leadership in the area.

Earlier, Governor Adeleke, shortly after casting his ballot, expressed confidence in his chances of winning the election.

The governor urged voters to turn out in large numbers, exercise their franchise and protect their votes throughout the electoral process.

Adeleke said the election offered the people of Osun an opportunity to determine who would govern the state for the next four years.

He also appealed to voters to remain peaceful and law-abiding during voting and the subsequent collation of results, urging them to remain at their polling units to monitor the process in line with INEC guidelines.

The governor, however, alleged that he had received information about a police officer planning to disrupt the election in Ede and called on the Inspector-General of Police to remove the officer from the state.

“We also received information about our supporters being scared away in Modakeke and some areas in the state by some police officers to disenfranchise them,” Adeleke said.

He further warned his supporters to be vigilant against the alleged circulation of fake ballot papers, which he said could be used to mislead voters at some polling units.