OSSIEC chair: Police sealed our office, arrested officials with voting materials

Hashim Abioye, chairman of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), has accused the police of arresting election officials and blocking journalists from covering the local government elections.

In a video shared on X, Abioye said several OSSIEC officials were detained while on their way to polling units on Saturday. 

He also alleged that police officers sealed off the commission’s office, preventing journalists from collecting accreditation tags and jackets needed to cover the election.

Abioye, however, assured voters that materials had been deployed to affected areas, adding that there were sufficient resources on the ground to proceed with the election.

He also apologised to journalists for the accreditation issues, attributing them to the police sealing off the commission’s office.

“So far so good, the reports have been positive and the conduct has been very smooth and peaceful as against the false alarm raised by the police. Everywhere is calm,” Abioye said.

“The only thing is that in some of the areas in which materials are supposed to have arrived for voters to cast their votes, we had reports of police arresting our officials.

“I don’t know on whose order because there is no court order that warranted the arrest of officers of our officials.

“As it is, we have deployed materials to those units because we have enough on the ground.

“For our people in the media community, I want to apologise for the inadequacy on the tags and the jackets because we have enough but the police sealed our office and that was not warranted at all.”

Abioye’s statement comes after the police called for the suspension of the LG election, citing a high likelihood of violence and security threats.

On Friday, Muyiwa Adejobi, the police spokesperson, said “credible intelligence” suggests that some individuals are planning to disrupt the peace in Osun state.

Meanwhile, Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun state, assured stakeholders of a free and fair election, urging candidates to sell their agendas peacefully and warning against violence or misinformation.