Outrage as Accord and APC Boycott Crucial Osun Police Peace Summit Ahead of August Governor Election

The race for the Osun State Government House has taken a contentious turn after the state’s main political powerhouses, the Accord Party and the All Progressives Congress (APC), boycotted a peace summit organized by the police to curb rising bloodshed ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

The high-stakes stakeholders’ meeting, held at the Police Headquarters in Osogbo, was meant to bring all political contenders together to sign a pact against thuggery and hate speech. Instead, the empty chairs left by the APC and Accord Party dominated the conversation, triggering deep suspicion among electoral officials and rival political groups who traveled from across the state to attend the parley.

Smaller political parties did not hide their anger, openly accusing the two missing giants of deliberately avoiding commitments to peaceful elections. The State Chairman of the BOOT Party, Prince Adesoji Adeleke, stood up during the session to protest the boycott, pointing out the futility of holding a peace dialogue without the main antagonists present.

“The two political parties causing the real problems for us in this state are simply not here,” Prince Adeleke stated bluntly during the meeting. “This is completely disgusting. What is the essence of our sitting here talking to ourselves? They clearly know what they are planning for themselves ahead of this election, and their absence speaks volumes about their intentions.”

Echoing those frustrations, the governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Simeon Adebayo, noted that the ongoing friction between the two missing parties is exactly what has thrown Osun into its current state of anxiety.

The security situation in the state has rapidly deteriorated over the past few weeks. Just last month, the Accord Party petitioned federal authorities over a midnight shooting at its state secretariat, pointing fingers at APC-aligned thugs. The APC quickly fired back, calling the incident a self-inflicted publicity stunt.

The violence struck again just days ago in Ede—the hometown of Governor Ademola Adeleke—when a campaign truck crashed directly into a gathering of APC supporters, killing one person and injuring many others in what party leaders claim was a deliberate attack.

Alarmed by the body count, the Osun State Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Mrs. Oluwatoyin Babalola, warned politicians that voters are becoming too terrified to participate in the democratic process. She pleaded with campaign teams to rein in their supporters and stop treating a democratic contest like a tribal war.

Osun Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Gotan, laid down strict new rules for the remaining weeks of the campaign. He warned that the command will no longer tolerate unannounced rallies that block major roads or late-night political processions that provide cover for armed thugs. Gotan made it clear that any party failing to give the police adequate advance notice before hitting the streets will have their events shut down immediately.

The police chief also took a hard line against the widespread destruction of campaign materials, calling the defacement of billboards and posters a cowardly act that only serves to provoke retail violence.

As the peace summit ended without the signatures of the state’s most powerful political machines, a dark cloud hangs over the upcoming August ballot. The boycott has sent a chilling message through Osun: despite the best efforts of the police and electoral umpires, the main contenders are seemingly unprepared to de-escalate the tension, setting up a volatile showdown at the polls.