The police in Osun State have summoned Francis Fadahunsi, the senator representing Osun East, over the comments he made during a rally asking supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to “kill” members of the rival Accord Party ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.
Senator Fadahunsi during a protest at the palace of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland in Ilesa over alleged incessant killings of the APC members in Ijesaland, directed party members to retaliate by the kill with the rival part Accord.
In the video which circulated online, the senator, who was accompanied by other All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, accused Accord Party members of killing people in Ilesa.
“The cap they wear – it is Yellow Fever cap, it is the cap of an animal,” Mr Fadahunsi said, referring to Accord Party’s yellow brand.
“It is animal that kills. Have you ever heard that APC killed anyone? Are those being killed not your people?” Mr Fadahunsi said.
“So, we have come to tell you, up till the day of the election, if we see them, it is killing.”
The statement came a day after three people were killed in a shooting in the Imo area of Ilesa in Osun State, amid heightened political tension in the community ahead of the 15 August governorship election.
However, the Osun State Police Command has ordered the senator to appear before the State Criminal Investigation Department in Osogbo at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, following the controversial statement he was caught saying in a video clip capturing moments when he was addressing the rally in Ilesa.
The video clip circulated on social media intensifying growing concerns about political violence ahead of Saturday’s election.
According to The Cable, the invitation, dated 11 August (Wednesday) and signed by Samuel Erale Etaifo, the Commissioner of Police overseeing the Osun State election, said the police required Mr Fadahunsi to clarify the circumstances surrounding the statement, which it described as potentially “threatening, inciting and intimidating.”
“The invitation is premised on information in possession of the Nigeria Police alleging that during your address at the aforementioned programme, you made statements considered to be threatening, inciting and intimidating in nature, and the statement has already been in circulation on various electronic and social media platforms,” the statement reads.
