•Osogbo, Ede, Ife, Oriade, Ijebu-Ijesha, Ilobu, Ikire emerge as flashpoints •Deployment of 15,000 policemen divides stakeholders By Shina Abubakar Fresh fears of further violence have gripped Osun State ahead of the August 15 governorship election, with the two major opposition parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Accord Party, claiming to have lost a combined 18 members in the build-up to the poll. . The development has heightened concerns over the safety of voters, political parties and election officials as the state prepares for the governorship election, with the deployment of 15,000 policemen generating divergent reactions among political parties and civil society organisations. Specifically, the build-up to the August 15 election has been punctuated by a series of violent incidents across the state, ranging from attacks on party supporters and campaign convoys to shootings and alleged assassination attempts. Gunmen In May, an Accord Party member, Kolade Eluyera, was killed in Irewole Local Government Area, an incident the party attributed to alleged APC supporters, a claim rejected by the opposition party. The violence escalated on June 3 when the Accord chairman in Osogbo Local Government, Asimiyu Ajibola, was shot by gunmen and left receiving treatment in hospital. Expectedly, the incident further heightened tension between the rival camps. There was another reported death in Esa-Oke, where an Accord supporter, Ajayi Rogba, was killed during the period of heightened political activities. The incident again triggered accusations, with Accord supporters linking the killing to political violence, while APC members in the area denied involvement and warned against politicising the incident. Earlier, campaign activities in Ede, Osogbo and other parts of the state had also been disrupted by clashes, shootings and attacks on campaign convoys, reinforcing concerns that political disagreements were increasingly taking a violent dimension. The scale of the violence has since become a major concern ahead of next week’s poll. 13 fatalities For example, Kimpact Development Initiative said 44 election-related violent incidents resulting in 13 fatalities were recorded in Osun between October 2025 and June 2026. However, the political parties in separate chats with Sunday Vanguard, presented higher figures in relation to their members’ deaths. While the APC campaign council alleged that 10 of its members had been killed during the electioneering period, the Accord Party said eight of its people had also lost their lives. The parties have continued to trade accusations over responsibility for the violence, with each accusing the other of being behind attacks on its members. Although the combined figure of 18 deaths claimed by the two parties has not been independently established as a single death toll, the allegations have heightened fears of possible reprisal attacks and further violence before, during and after the election. The security situation has therefore become a major issue in the final days of the campaign, with stakeholders divided over whether the deployment of 15,000 policemen would help prevent violence or amount to militarisation of the electoral process. 10 of our members ‘ve been killed — APC Campaign Council The APC campaign council said the number of personnel deployed was less important than the professionalism, equipment and capacity of security agencies to ensure a free, fair and credible election. A member of the APC campaign council, Mr Kehinde Ayantunji, who spoke on behalf of the chairman, said the 15,000 personnel could be meaningless if they lacked the proper equipment and training needed to ensure a peaceful poll. Ayantunji said: “Since the beginning of this campaign, they have killed nothing less than 10 members of our party in Ilesa, Iwo, Osogbo, Ijebu-Jesa and some other communities. It is unfortunate that human life is involved and there is no election that is worth the life of any human being.” Speaking on the deployment of police officers, he said the party was not interested in the number of personnel but in the conduct of a free and fair election. He said: “Most important thing is not about number, it’s about the professional conduct of the Police, capacity to protect the people’s vote, we are interested in free, fair and credible election, we are also interested in adequate security to ensure that the Accord members do not succeed in creating fear and apprehension in the mind of the people so that our supporters and party members can come out to vote for the candidate of their choice.” The police, he said, “must do everything possible in terms of personnel, equipment, strategy and logistics to make sure that every vote coun
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