Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has rejected Governor Ademola Adeleke’s response to allegations that wanted criminals were being harboured at the Government House, describing his reaction as evasive.
The party’s position comes after remarks by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, during a visit to the Osun State Government House in Osogbo on Friday.
IGP Disu during the visit said he had received information that wanted criminals were being sheltered within the premises.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the party’s Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Olabisi, the APC maintained that Adeleke’s denial did not adequately address the allegations and insisted that some wanted persons were being protected from arrest.
Olabisi said, “The response of the governor to this weighty allegation of his keeping some of the daredevil criminals in the Government House was grossly evasive and was at variance with the expected response to the allegation.”
He alleged that a viral video showed a wanted suspect on the police watch list leading members of his group into a room within the Government House, adding that photographs also allegedly showed the governor in the company of political thugs at public functions.
The APC spokesman also claimed that “some individuals on the police wanted list had been appointed as political functionaries by the governor. Adeleke’s denial reflected what he described as propaganda.”
Responding on behalf of the Imole Campaign Council, Director of Strategic Communication, Jamiu Olawumi, dismissed the APC’s claims, saying they were baseless and amounted to an attempt to tarnish both the governor’s image and that of the Nigeria Police Force.
Olawumi said police officers attached to the Government House would have reported any criminal activity to their superiors if the allegations were true.
He stated, “That allegation is spurious and irresponsible and it is another attempt to smear the image of the Nigerian Police Force.”
He added that officers stationed at the Government House represented the Inspector-General of Police and were responsible for maintaining security, arguing that suggesting criminals were operating there without detection implied a failure of the police system.
Olawumi also accused the APC of projecting practices from its own period in government onto the current administration, maintaining that Governor Adeleke had consistently insisted that no criminal should be protected.
He called on the police to invite APC leaders for questioning over the allegations, adding, “The governor has said no criminal should be spared, even if the person was his biological child.”
The dispute followed the Inspector-General’s remarks during his visit to Osun, where he stated that intelligence available to the police indicated that wanted criminals were being sheltered in the Government House.
Adeleke responded by directing security agencies to pursue all suspected criminals in the state, including anyone related to him if found culpable.