Osun governor's wife leads protest against APC officials, says commissioner was stripped naked

• Osun Governor Ademola Adeleke's wife, Titilola Adeleke, led women in a protest against alleged arrests and violence ahead of Saturday's governorship election.

• She alleged that the state's Commissioner for Environment was stripped naked after being taken into custody last Friday.

• The police accepted the protesters' demands but warned against demonstrations that could trigger clashes ahead of the election.

The wife of Osun State Governor, Titilola Adeleke, led a group of women through the streets of Osogbo on Monday, demanding an end to what they described as targeted arrests and violence in the lead-up to Saturday's governorship election.

Carrying placards with messages like "Election is not war" and "Stop indiscriminate arrest of our husbands," the women marched from Osogbo-Ilobu Road toward the Osun State Police Command, before being stopped just short of the entrance.

At the centre of their complaint was a disturbing claim involving the state's Commissioner for Environment. According to Adeleke, he was picked up days earlier and, once in custody, stripped naked. "Last Friday, they picked up the commissioner for environment. He was brought here and stripped naked. This is not good enough. They should leave our people alone," she said, without specifying exactly who carried out the act.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Adeleke called on police to summon senior APC figures for questioning over what she described as rising violence targeting people connected to the ruling party in the state. "Invite APC chieftains for questioning. They should stop killing our husbands and children. Make them sign an undertaking," she said.

The women were eventually received by Samuel Etaifo, the police commissioner overseeing election matters in the state, who accepted a letter outlining their demands. Etaifo said his team had been working to calm tensions since arriving weeks earlier under a direct mandate from the Inspector General of Police, crediting that effort with what he described as a period of relative peace in the run-up to the vote.

He pushed back gently on the protest itself, warning that public demonstrations so close to election day carried their own risk of triggering fresh unrest if rival groups ended up crossing paths. "Let us assume that you come out now and the other party comes out, then both of you meet, what will happen?" he asked.

Etaifo also issued a broader warning aimed at anyone planning to interfere with Saturday's vote, saying election manipulation would not be tolerated. "If you are a manipulator of any election, that is even the worst. I will arrest you and take you to Abuja because this election is a federal election; we must get it right," he said.

He thanked the women for keeping the protest peaceful but asked them to disperse, assigning officers to escort them back to where the march began.

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