Mr. Erale Samuel Etaifo, the Commissioner of Police overseeing the 2026 Osun governorship election, has confirmed that nearly 100 suspects have been detained over the past month for plotting to disrupt the poll.
Speaking with Channels Television on Saturday, in Osogbo, Etaifo noted that several of those arrested were out-of-state agitators from neighboring Ondo and Ekiti states.
He, however, emphasized that no new arrests related to electoral violence had been recorded on election day.
“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 have 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 was 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.
Addressing reports of vote-buying, particularly allegations of money sharing at a polling unit in Ejigbo, the commissioner stated he would investigate the claims with local police leadership.
Meanwhile, Governor Adeleke expressed firm confidence in his victory shortly after casting his ballot.
Urging voters to turn out in large numbers, exercise their franchise, and protect their votes, Adeleke highlighted the election as a crucial moment for Osun residents to choose their leader for the next four years.
He also appealed for peace throughout the voting and collation processes, advising voters to monitor the counts at their polling units in accordance 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.”
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