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“Violence itself is retrogressive, the politically violent are primitive”
— Njau Kihia
It couldn’t be worse than this: Amnesty International Nigeria seemingly bellowing from the top of Nigeria’s and Africa’s tallest building, the NITEL Building on Marina, Lagos, and declaring in unequivocal terms: “We will name and shame Fadahunsi in 150 countries.”
When he featured on Channels Television on Thursday, the Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, stated that the international human rights organisation, which is located in 150 countries, would initiate a campaign to inform the whole world that Senator Francis Fadahunsi, who represents the Osun East Senatorial District at the Nigerian Senate, allegedly incited supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his constituency to unleash violence against members of Accord, in the run up to the governorship election held yesterday.
Sanusi indicated that Amnesty International would raise its game and reinforce its commitment to necessary efforts targeted at holding political actors accountable for inciting politically-motivated violence through their statements.
In the eyes of Amnesty International, Sanusi noted, what Senator Fadahunsi allegedly said publicly seemed to be an endorsement of violence by supporters of his party against the members of Accord, whose gubernatorial candidate happened to be the incumbent governor.
He reiterated that inciting violence or even perpetrating it, both amount to contravention of extant Nigerian and international laws, especially when such acts could potentially disrupt or threaten the conduct of peaceful democratic processes.
Further affirming the position of Amnesty International, Sanusi said: “Yes, we are going to use him as an example. We have had so many other terrible politicians say terrible things ahead of the election. But this one is exceptional.
“A situation whereby somebody came out on a recorded video to say, “Kill them wherever you find them. I believe that that person does not deserve any peace again because advocacy of hatred is a crime under international law as well as Nigerian law. Therefore, we are going to use this man as an example to show that the impunity of Nigerian politicians cannot continue, and we cannot tolerate it again. The people have to hold them to account if the government cannot do that.”
In the viral video, Fadahunsi speaking in Yoruba was alleged to have said: “If we see anyone from the Accord, we will kill them.”
In response to the torrent of backlash set off by Fadahunsi’s alleged incendiary statement, the Osun State Police Command invited him to shed light of the remarks he allegedly made at the political gathering held in Ilesa as part of APC’s campaign for the governorship.
The letter of invitation was signed by CP Samuel Etaifo Erale, the Commissioner of Police deployed to Osun State to take over election-related security arrangements.
Until Fadahunsi made the alleged vitriolic call on APC supporters to violently besiege Accord Party members, Osun State was showing the normally expected political atmospherics Nigerians had come to associate with the contest for political power. But Fadahunsi’s alleged call for violence, which was allegedly couched in language interpreted to mean, “Kill them” in some sense, chillingly recalled the days in the mid-60s when political violence christened as “Wetie, Wetie” enveloped and soaked the ground in the Old Western Region in the First Republic, during the political clashes between the Action Group and the Akintola-led UPGA, which in somewhat led to the first coup in 1966.
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In a statement, the Accord described the comments made by the lawmaker as “outrageous and reprehensible,” stressing that what the senator said was “capable of heightening political tension in the state. The party demanded his “immediate arrest and prosecution” by the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Services (DSS).
The party further said: “For a sitting senator to condescend so low to publicly threaten the lives of his fellow compatriots days before the gubernatorial poll in the state is unjust and unacceptable.”
Accord appealed to the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, African Union, ECOWAS to monitor and condemn activities capable of undermining the electoral process.
In addition, the South West Forum made a call on international bodies to “urgently intervene over the worsening political violence situation.”
In a quick reaction, Governor Adeleke and his campaign council had called on President Bola Tinubu to “caution Senator Francis Fadahunsi” over the growing political tension, and stated that eight Accord members were killed, more than 20 injured in gun attacks in the preceding three months with no arrests being made. It alleged about an impending police-induced genocide. It said over 60 Accord leaders had been arrested and moved to Abuja and Nasarawa without being charged.
However, rising in stout defence of Fadahunsi and detailing its own counter allegations, the Osun State APC, blasted the Accord Party’s gubernatorial candidate, saying: “It is ironic that Governor Adeleke now seeks to portray himself as a victim.” The party alleged that no fewer than 30 members and supporters of the APC had been killed by Accord Party thugs since 2022.
Further trolling Adeleke, the party said he should prepare to accept the verdict of the electorate with maturity instead of heating up the polity.
In the face of the backlash caused by his comments, Senator Fadahunsi issued a statement to clarify what he allegedly said. In the statement, his office explained that what Fadahunsi said was a call on supporters to overwhelmingly reject the Accord candidate at the ballot box through lawful, peaceful and democratic means. He insisted that what he meant, while he spoke in Yoruba was that they should ‘kill’ Accord with votes, not violence.
As the allegations and counter-allegations occasioned by the alleged incendiary statement made by Fadahunsi dominated the news, Mrs Roseline Keayn, managing director of Akurose Group, a leading distributor of fast moving consumer goods, urged politicians to take to heart the words of venerated Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
Keayn noted that all through his life Ghandi was an advocate of peace and non-violence. In similar manner, she urged them to borrow a leaf from former President Goodluck Jonathan, who doused the tension that misguided politicians were strenuously trying to create about the 2015 election. On December 10, 2014, he said: “Nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.”
Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi, a retired Customs officer, was born on 12 July 1952 to the family of Chief Israel Adekunbi Fadahunsi and Chief (Mrs.) Emily Fadahunsi, both indigenes of Ilase-Ijesa. He received his primary education in Saint Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Ilase-Ijesa and then proceeded to Abebeyin Anglican Modern School, Atakumosa West Local Government Area for his secondary school education.
The serving Senator resigned from the PDP and joined the APC in July 2025.
