Police Summon Osun Senator over ‘Kill Accord Members’ Comment

The Osun State Police Command has summoned Senator Francis Fadahunsi over a viral video in which he allegedly instructed supporters to kill members of the rival Accord Party ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.

In a letter dated August 11, 2026, police ordered Fadahunsi to report to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Osogbo on Wednesday, August 12, at 11:00 am. The invitation, signed by Samuel Etaifo Erale, Commissioner of Police for Elections in Osun State, cited information that the senator made statements “considered to be threatening, inciting and intimidating in nature” during an APC campaign rally in Ilesa on Tuesday.

Fadahunsi, who represents Osun East Senatorial District, was captured on video speaking in Yoruba at the palace of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland during a protest over the alleged killing of three APC members. In the footage, he said: “From now on, whenever you see Accord members, kill them. I authorise you to kill them. They have wives and children too.”

The senator has denied inciting violence, claiming the video was deliberately edited to distort his remarks. In a statement titled “Kill Osun Accord with Votes, Not Violence,” his team said the comment was “purely political and metaphorical” and intended to urge supporters to defeat the Accord Party at the ballot box. “At no point did Senator Fadahunsi advocate violence, intimidation or any form of physical attack against members or supporters of the Accord Party,” the statement read.

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking re-election under the Accord Party, has demanded Fadahunsi’s immediate arrest. Addressing journalists in Osogbo, Adeleke said he had reported the matter to Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu.

“This is now beyond politics. This is now a national security threat that requires the attention of Mr President through the Office of the National Security Adviser,” Adeleke said. The governor described the senator’s remarks as “incitement to genocide against the people of Ijesaland and Osun State”.

The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, told Channels Television’s The Morning Brief that the video “calls for serious concern”. “He is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We are not talking about immunity here,” Ojelabi said. “If they honour it, fine; if they don’t, then we go after them.”

Fadahunsi, a retired customs officer first elected to the Senate in 2019, previously served on the Peoples Democratic Party platform before defecting to the APC. In a separate controversy in 2022, he urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency not to take the drug war to the entertainment industry, describing it as “the only viable sector in Nigeria” keeping youth inspired amid a depressing economy.

The APC’s Osun State chapter has defended Fadahunsi, describing the video as doctored by Adeleke’s camp. Party spokesperson Kola Olabisi said the governor “should leave Senator Fadahunsi alone and stop acting on his quotation out of context”.

“I told them this shows that they are weak and cannot win. They should shut them down by their votes; they should kill them by their votes,” Fadahunsi said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “I don’t preach violence.”

The senator also alleged that a speech lasting about 24 minutes was reduced to less than two minutes before being circulated on social media. “Unfortunately, Davido and Olajengbesi took less than two minutes from a speech that lasted about 24 minutes and circulated it to achieve cheap political objectives,” he said, referring to the Afrobeat singer who shared the video.