Gunfire shattered the morning calm in Ile-Ife when a victory walk organised by the All Progressives Congress spiralled into a running battle that left three residents bleeding and a trail of shattered glass across Sabo market. The APC had mobilised supporters for its governorship candidate, Bola Oyebamiji—popularly known as AMBO—starting at Mayfair around 9 a.m. under the watch of federal lawmaker Abimbola Ajilesoro. By the time the procession reached Sabo, eyewitnesses said rival thugs tore down campaign posters, sparking a clash that quickly escalated into machete swings and live rounds.
A trader identified only as Usira told investigators that a motorcycle belonging to one of the assailants was seized and smashed. "They were firing gunshots and using machetes on each other," he said. Within hours, the violence metastasised: gunmen in a 15-vehicle convoy branded with AMBO’s face stormed through Akoda, Owode-Ede, Olaiya, Old Garage and Oke Fia, firing indiscriminately. An elderly man was rushed to Osun State University Teaching Hospital with a bullet wound; a commercial driver in Aregbesola area took a stray round to the chest and was whisked away to an undisclosed clinic. At Testing Ground, soldiers raided a business premises owned by APC loyalist Lawrence Dada, looting property and arresting two staff on suspicion of sheltering political operatives.
Governor Ademola Adeleke condemned the attacks as "coordinated" and pointed the finger squarely at Marine Minister Gboyega Oyetola and Oyebamiji. "The attackers are led by thugs known as Aleba and Asiri," he told journalists after visiting victims at UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital and State Hospital, Ede. "Worst still, the state police command has not raised a finger to stop the attacks or arrest the attackers." Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, later released a statement demanding President Bola Tinubu’s intervention, warning that the state was sliding into chaos. Yet the Osun APC Campaign Council fired back, accusing Adeleke of deploying branded buses filled with armed thugs who vandalised campaign vehicles in Owode-Ede. "Why should the electoral preference of a citizen become a criminal offence?" the council’s media head, Remi Omowaiye, asked in a statement that called on the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the attacks on APC supporters.
The African Democratic Congress piled on, alleging that APC-linked gunmen opened fire at its campaign headquarters in Oranmiyan House before terrorising NURTW parks and key junctions. "The hoodlums moved through Osogbo in broad daylight without any visible intervention from security agencies," ADC Publicity Secretary Oluwaseun Abosede said. Police Public Relations Officer Abiodun Ojelabi confirmed an investigation had begun but offered no timeline for arrests. The violence has exposed a dangerous fault line: Osun’s electoral law permits campaign rallies and processions, but the state’s Public Order Act requires organisers to obtain permits from the police commissioner at least 48 hours in advance. Neither the APC nor the PDP has produced evidence of such permits for the June 9 walk, raising questions about whether the police failed to enforce its own regulations or were deliberately sidelined.
Local security analysts say the pattern mirrors pre-election violence in Kogi and Rivers, where rival factions exploited weak policing to turn campaign trails into battlegrounds. In Osun, the immediate fallout is economic: Sabo market traders have shuttered stalls, fearing reprisals; commercial bus operators in Owode-Ede have hiked fares by 30% to cover security escorts; and hospital administrators at UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital report a surge in trauma cases, straining blood bank reserves. The state’s internally generated revenue, already anaemic, is expected to dip further as businesses delay expansion plans until after the August 15 governorship poll.
Behind the scenes, APC and PDP campaign financiers are scrambling. Party insiders say Oyebamiji’s camp has earmarked an additional ₦50 million for private security details, while Adeleke’s team is diverting ₦30 million from its media budget to fund rapid-response community patrols. Both sides are also courting traditional rulers: the Ooni of Ife has summoned emergency meetings with party leaders, while the Ataoja of Osogbo has threatened to withdraw chieftaincy titles from any politician found culpable in the violence. Yet the most immediate pressure falls on the police: the Inspector-General has dispatched a special squad to Osun, but local officers remain hamstrung by chronic underfunding—fuel shortages have grounded half the command’s patrol vehicles, and the state government’s ₦200 million security vote for June remains unpaid.
The violence has also reignited debate over Nigeria’s electoral laws. Section 95 of the Electoral Act 2022 prohibits the use of inflammatory language or intimidation during campaigns, yet enforcement remains lax. Osun’s police command has not charged a single politician or thug in connection with the June 9 attacks, despite video evidence circulating on social media. Civil society groups, including the Transition Monitoring Group and Yiaga Africa, have called for an independent panel to probe the security failures, warning that unchecked violence could disenfranchise thousands in August. "If the police cannot secure a campaign walk, how will they secure polling units on election day?" asked Yiaga’s Osun coordinator, Tunde Salawu.
Adeleke’s plea for federal intervention may force Tinubu’s hand. The president, already grappling with insecurity in the North and economic unrest nationwide, cannot afford another electoral crisis in the South-West. Yet any federal deployment risks being seen as partisan: Oyetola, a former Osun governor, remains a key Tinubu ally, and the APC controls both the state’s senate seats. For now, residents are left to navigate the chaos alone. In Owode-Ede, a community leader who asked not to be named said families are sleeping in shifts, with young men patrolling streets armed with cutlasses and locally made guns. "We are on our own," he said. "The politicians will blame each other, the police will investigate, but we are the ones counting the bodies."
