The legal team of Mr Semiu Baruwa, an Accord Party member arrested by the police at the Baruwa Area of Ogo Oluwa, has accused the Osun State Police Command of publishing “false, defamatory and highly damaging” statements to justify his arrest, demanding an immediate retraction and public apology within 48 hours.
In a letter dated 25th May, 2026, addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Police Command, solicitors Nuru Kareem & Co. faulted the police on the arrest and their link to criminal activity without evidence.
OSUN DEFENDER reports that there was tension around Baruwa Street on Sunday morning as some men of the Nigeria Police Force, allegedly fired sporadically at youths playing football in the area.
An eyewitness who preferred anonymity, said the boys were playing football in the area, when the officers reportedly from the State Criminal Investigation Department came in to arrest one of them.
In a video obtained by OSUN DEFENDER, some men believed to be police officers were seen shooting sporadically.
The eyewitness said people in the area scampered for safety as the development caused panic in the area.
But the police while reacting in a statement by its spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, said Baruwa was traced to the area following a petition and a video showing him among some cultists brandishing weapons and destroying billboards.
However, Baruwa’s legal team dismissed the police submissions, noting that the publication contains several false, defamatory and highly damaging statements concerning their client.
“Our client’s attention has been drawn to the press release issued by the Osun State Police Command on 24th May, 2026. The publication contains several false, defamatory and highly damaging statements concerning our client,” the letter noted.
The lawyers disputed the police claim that operatives stormed Baruwa’s “hideout” where he was arrested.
“This statement is categorically false. Our client was not arrested in any hideout. He was arrested openly and publicly at a football field on Baruwa Street, Osogbo, where he had gone to watch a football match on the morning of 24th May, 2026,” the letter read.
On the video allegation the letter said: “Our client vehemently denies ever appearing in any such video or associating with any such unlawful activity. The allegation is entirely false, reckless and highly injurious to his reputation. Our client hereby challenges the Osun State Police Command to produce and publicly identify any such video showing him participating in the acts alleged.”
The lawyers also denied that Baruwa vandalised billboards, stating he had only intervened in a dispute over a banner on Baruwa Street gate that wrongly suggested his family supported the APC.
“Our client states further that he had issues with some people creating a false impression that his family had supported the APC on a banner hung on the Baruwa Street gate. He complained to Ataoja Police Division and took the banner to the police as evidence. The Community leadership intervened and settled the matter and our client returned the banner to the gate in the presence of community leaders,” the letter said.
“Our client challenges the Police to provide the video where he is vandalising billboards around Osogbo and surrounding towns as falsely claimed by Osun Police Command.”
The solicitors said the police publication had caused “grave reputational damage,” noting that members of the public had begun referring to Baruwa on social media as a member of the AYE Confraternity.
“It is deeply disturbing that a law enforcement institution entrusted with the duty of protecting citizens and preserving public confidence would publish such grave allegations without verification,” the letter added.
Baruwa demanded an immediate and unequivocal retraction of the false and defamatory statements contained in press release.
He also demanded, “a public clarification from the Osun State Police Command, through the same media channels used for the original publication,” clarifying he was not arrested in a hideout and that no verified video links him to brandishing weapons.
“A written apology addressed to our client and copied to this office.”
The letter warned that failure to comply within 48 hours would force Baruwa to “take all necessary legal steps available to him to protect his name, reputation and rights, including but not limited to commencing appropriate legal proceedings for defamation.”
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