Facing sharp backlash over alleged incitement, Senator Francis Fadahunsi (APC-Osun East) claims a viral video accusing him of calling for attacks on opposition members was heavily manipulated.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with detectives at the Osun State Police Headquarters on Wednesday, the senator set the record straight.
He explained that his call to “kill” the Accord Party was purely political strategy ahead of the August 15 election—referring to defeating them at the polls rather than harming their members or families.
“Well, we have met, and I have told them what I said, not the one manipulated by mischievous interpreters of our language. I am a Yoruba man. If an Igbo or Hausa woman is interpreting Yoruba to me, Yoruba means many things. We said, come Saturday, election, we will kill them with our votes. Go and look at the video; it is almost 38 minutes.
“A mischievous man, I don’t know where it comes from, whether it’s on drug or where, misinterpreted from somebody’s blog. So, we’ll wait until after this to see what we can do legally to search,” Fadahunsi said.
Defending his comments, Fadahunsi claimed he was merely drawing attention to the killing of APC members by thugs in Ilesa, which he alleged was designed to suppress voter turnout.
He arrived for questioning at 2:35 p.m. alongside Samuel Erale, Commissioner of Police in charge of election security.
The police investigation stems from a viral Yoruba video—reported by PerSecondNews—in which Fadahunsi allegedly directed violence against Accord Party members and their families.
Osun Governor Ademola Adeleke previously branded the remarks a “national security threat” and an incitement to “genocide,” demanding the lawmaker’s immediate arrest.
Amnesty International had on Wednesday also called on the authorities to hold Fadahunsi accountable for allegedly “instructing his supporters to kill members of the Accord Party ahead of the state’s August 15 governorship election”.
The rights group, in a post on its X handle, described the remarks attributed to the APC lawmaker as “deliberate and solely aimed at inciting a bloody poll in Osun State”.
“The authorities must urgently denounce any statements, live, online or otherwise, which advocate violence.
“Senator Fadahunsi must be held accountable,” it added.
Confirming the session, Force Public Relations Officer CSP Aniete Iniedu Okokon disclosed that detectives have interrogated Fadahunsi as part of an ongoing investigation into the video.
He promised to release the findings once the probe is complete.
Addressing broader security fears ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, Okokon assured residents that robust safeguards are active across the state to protect voters and election workers.
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