Osun Election: Adeyanju Seeks US, UK, Canada Sanctions Against Fadahunsi
Human rights lawyer Deji Adeyanju has asked the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to consider sanctions against Senator Francis Fadahunsi over remarks he alleged amounted to a threat against members of the Accord Party ahead of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
Adeyanju said he had petitioned the three countries, seeking possible visa restrictions and other measures against the senator. He made the call on Arise TV’s Prime Time programme while discussing the increasingly tense political atmosphere surrounding the August 15 election.
The allegation has added another layer to an already heated contest between Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party and the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji. The African Democratic Congress candidate, Najeem Salaam, is also among the major contenders.
Adeyanju said Fadahunsi’s remarks were particularly troubling because, in his interpretation, they could encourage attacks against political opponents.
“Again, that takes me to the unfortunate remarks that we’ve just heard of Senator Fadahunsi, very regrettably threatening that members of the Accord Party be killed,” Adeyanju said.
He further alleged that the remarks amounted to an attempt to encourage attacks against Accord members and urged all leading candidates in the election to condemn threats and violence regardless of the political party involved.
Fadahunsi has, however, disputed the interpretation of his remarks. Reports published on Wednesday said the senator clarified that his comment was metaphorical and that he was calling on APC supporters to defeat the Accord Party at the ballot box rather than through physical violence.
That distinction is important because the available reporting establishes that a controversial statement was attributed to Fadahunsi, but the competing interpretation of what he meant remains central to the dispute. The allegation that he intended to promote violence should therefore not be presented as an established fact.
The controversy comes against the backdrop of a series of violent incidents and allegations involving supporters of the major political parties.
The Osun State Government has accused APC figures, including Fadahunsi, former governor Gboyega Oyetola, Oyebamiji and Wole Oke, of aiding or encouraging political violence. In July, Governor Adeleke asked a visiting British government delegation to consider visa bans and economic sanctions against those he named. The governor also claimed that five Accord members had been killed and 15 critically injured in attacks allegedly carried out by suspected APC supporters.
Those allegations have not been established against the individuals named by Adeleke. Premium Times reported that the governor did not provide evidence to substantiate the accusations and that the people he named had not, at the time of its report, responded to the call for sanctions.
The APC has rejected the government’s account and accused the Accord Party and people associated with the Adeleke administration of political violence. The party also alleged that APC members had been killed in separate incidents and questioned why the British delegation was not presented with what it described as violence involving Accord supporters.
The competing allegations illustrate the difficulty of assigning responsibility for individual incidents without the outcome of police investigations, prosecutions or other independent findings.
One such dispute emerged in July following the arrest of Popoola Alaba, the Accord Party candidate for the Ijesa South Federal Constituency. The Imole Campaign Council alleged that the arrest was politically motivated and linked to Fadahunsi. The senator’s media adviser rejected the allegation, while the Osun State Police Command said Alaba was arrested following a petition concerning alleged illegal mining and other offences. Police said four people arrested alongside him attacked officers and damaged a police vehicle.
Similarly, allegations surrounding the killing of Accord member Yomi Akanji in Osogbo have generated competing claims. The campaign council attributed the killing to suspected political thugs, while the broader pattern of violence in the state has involved accusations and counter accusations between the two dominant political camps.
The security concerns are not limited to political rhetoric.
The Independent National Electoral Commission said in June that it had identified 385 security flashpoints across Osun State and about 200 difficult terrain locations ahead of the election.
Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner Oluwatoyin Babalola said the assessment covered all 30 local government areas and that the findings had been shared with security agencies. She also said INEC had trained its personnel in risk management and was carrying out further assessments on the ground.
The figure of 385 flashpoints subsequently became controversial. The Accord Party’s Osun chairman, Victor Akande, and a federal lawmaker, Clement Olohunwa, questioned aspects of the assessment and called for greater transparency concerning the locations and methodology used to classify the areas. Civil society groups later made similar demands, asking INEC to explain the criteria used to identify the flashpoints.
The significance of the figure is therefore not that 385 locations have been proven to be violent. Rather, it represents INEC’s assessment of areas requiring heightened security attention as the commission prepares for the poll.
Babalola also said INEC had received about 75 per cent of the materials required for the election at the time of the June briefing and had begun deploying non sensitive materials to designated locations.
The dispute over Fadahunsi’s remarks comes at a particularly sensitive point in the electoral calendar.
The August 15 election is less than a week away, and political competition has intensified following major realignments in the state. Governor Adeleke left the Peoples Democratic Party and joined the Accord Party in December 2025, subsequently emerging as the party’s candidate. Reports on the party’s primary said Adeleke secured 145 of 150 votes cast by accredited delegates, with five votes declared invalid.
Fadahunsi, meanwhile, moved from the PDP to the APC in 2025 alongside other prominent Osun politicians. He has since become an important figure in the opposition’s campaign and publicly backed Oyebamiji for the governorship.
The political realignment has contributed to a contest in which several established political figures are now operating from different camps.
That is why statements capable of being interpreted as threats can have consequences beyond ordinary campaign rhetoric. At the same time, allegations of incitement require careful verification because an interpretation of a political statement is not, by itself, proof that a speaker ordered or encouraged a criminal act.
Adeyanju’s request for action from the US, UK and Canada also raises questions about how international sanctions are applied.
The three countries have mechanisms that can be used to impose travel restrictions or other sanctions on individuals in circumstances established under their respective laws and policies. A political activist or lawyer calling for sanctions does not itself trigger such measures.
For any foreign government to act, the relevant authorities would ordinarily have to consider the available evidence and determine whether the conduct meets the legal or policy threshold applicable to the proposed sanction.
Adeyanju’s intervention therefore amounts to a request for scrutiny and possible action, not evidence that any sanction has been imposed on Fadahunsi.
The wider use of international pressure as a response to electoral violence is not entirely new in Nigeria. Civil society organisations have previously asked foreign governments to consider visa restrictions and other measures against individuals accused of electoral abuses. In June, for example, the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project called for sanctions against Nigerian officials, politicians and others it alleged were responsible for election related intimidation, harassment and violence.
Adeyanju also used his appearance on Arise TV to assess the performance of candidates at a recent town hall programme.
He said he was unimpressed by the African Democratic Congress candidate, arguing that the candidate made broad campaign promises without adequately explaining how they would be implemented.
He was more favourable towards Oyebamiji, praising what he described as the APC candidate’s combative approach and his questioning of the incumbent administration’s management of state resources.
Adeyanju gave Adeleke the strongest assessment, saying the governor attempted to account for projects carried out by his administration. He rated the governor’s performance 60 to 40 ahead of Oyebamiji.
That assessment is Adeyanju’s personal judgement of the town hall performances, not an independent measurement of the candidates’ popularity or their prospects at the polls.
The same distinction applies to his comments about allegations of political interference. Adeyanju referred to allegations raised by Adeleke concerning the APC, some of which he said had circulated on social media. The existence of discussion on social media does not independently establish the allegations.
The central issue for Osun voters is whether the remaining days before the election can pass without further violence or intimidation.
The evidence already available shows a state where political tensions are sufficiently serious for INEC to identify hundreds of potential security flashpoints, while the major political camps continue to accuse one another of violence.
But the available evidence does not establish a single, verified account in which one political party or individual is responsible for all incidents.
That distinction will remain important as the election approaches. Claims involving killings, threats, political thuggery and sponsorship of violence require investigation and evidence rather than political attribution alone.
For voters, the immediate concern is more practical. They need to be able to reach polling units, cast their ballots without intimidation and have their votes counted according to the law.
For INEC and security agencies, the challenge is to turn the risk assessment into effective protection for voters and electoral personnel.
For political parties and their candidates, the Fadahunsi controversy is another reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can acquire greater significance when an election is already taking place in an atmosphere of violence and mutual suspicion.
The final judgement, however, belongs to Osun voters on August 15.