Senator representing Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi, has denied directing his supporters to kill members of the Accord Party and their family members, saying a viral video in which the alleged comments were made was edited to misrepresent his words.
Fadahunsi spoke on Wednesday after being interrogated by the police at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo over the controversial video.
Speaking to journalists after a closed-door meeting with police investigators at the command’s Criminal Investigation Department, the senator said he was referring to using votes to “kill” the Accord Party in the August 15 governorship election, rather than physically attacking its members or their relatives.
“Well, we have met, and I have told them what I said, not the one manipulated by mischievous interpreters of our language. I am a Yoruba man. If an Igbo or Hausa woman is interpreting Yoruba to me, Yoruba means many things. We said, come Saturday, election, we will kill them with our votes. Go and look at the video; it is almost 38 minutes,” Fadahunsi said.
He accused those circulating the video of deliberately misinterpreting his comments and said he would consider legal action against those responsible.
“A mischievous man, I don’t know where it comes from, whether it’s on drug or where, misinterpreted from somebody’s blog. So, we’ll wait until after this to see what we can do legally to search,” he added.
Fadahunsi also expressed concern over recent killings in his constituency, alleging that the attacks were intended to intimidate voters and discourage them from turning out for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturday’s election.
The senator maintained that his comments were made in the context of what he described as the continued killing of APC members by suspected thugs in Ilesa and other parts of Osun State.
Fadahunsi arrived at the Osun State Police Command headquarters at about 2:35 p.m. in the company of the Commissioner of Police in charge of election and security, Samuel Erale.
His interrogation followed the circulation of a viral video in which he was alleged to have directed his supporters, speaking in Yoruba, to kill members of the Accord Party and their family members.
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke had on Tuesday accused Fadahunsi of inciting violence and “genocide” against members of the Accord Party, whose governorship candidate is the incumbent governor.
Adeleke called for a thorough investigation and demanded the “immediate arrest” of the senator, describing the alleged remarks as a “national security threat”.
Amnesty International also called on the authorities on Wednesday to hold Fadahunsi accountable over what it described as alleged instructions to his supporters to kill Accord Party members ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
In a post on its X account, the rights organisation described the remarks attributed to the APC lawmaker as “deliberate and solely aimed at inciting a bloody poll in Osun State”.
“The authorities must urgently denounce any statements, live, online or otherwise, which advocate violence,” the organisation said.
“Senator Fadahunsi must be held accountable,” it added.
Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Aniete Iniedu Okokon, confirmed that police had interrogated Fadahunsi and said investigations into the matter were ongoing.
Okokon said the outcome of the investigation would be made public after its conclusion.
He also assured residents that Osun State remained safe, saying adequate security measures had been deployed to protect voters and election officials during Saturday’s governorship election.
