In the charged politics of Osun state, the language of violence has found its way into a campaign season, putting Francis Fadahunsi, a veteran public servant and senator representing Osun-east, at the centre of a stormy controversy.
For a politician who has spent decades moving through Nigeria’s public service and political circles, Fadahunsi is no stranger to controversy. But on Tuesday, the senator found himself at the centre of a storm that transcended the familiar rough-and-tumble of political campaigning.
At a campaign gathering in his hometown, Ilesa, a town in Osun state, Fadahunsi was captured in a viral video speaking in Yoruba and telling supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to “kill” members of the Accord Party (AP) if they encountered them.
“From now on, whenever you see Accord members, kill them. I authorise you to kill them. They have wives and children too,” Fadahunsi said.
The remark, made a few days before the August 15 governorship election, triggered an immediate backlash, particularly because it came against the backdrop of an already combustible security situation in the state and, more specifically, in Fadahunsi’s own backyard where he made the “kill Accord” remark.
A day earlier, a violent clash in Ilesa left three people dead. While the Osun state police command attributed the incident to a confrontation between rival confraternities and deployed tactical teams to the area, the violence heightened the prevailing atmosphere of fear across the state.
There were also reported killings in Igbogi, Isokun, and Bolorunduro areas of Ilesa.
In an environment already on edge, with security efforts to prevent reprisal attacks, the senator’s call to “kill” political opponents was not merely viewed as bad campaigning but as a potential match to a powder keg.
The police command subsequently summoned Fadahunsi to explain the circumstances surrounding the statement and to clarify the comments made during the campaign.
Fadahunsi, however, has offered a different interpretation. In a response to the backlash, he said he meant that APC supporters should “kill Accord” with their votes, insisting that the statement was political and metaphorical and was not a call for violence.
The explanation has done little to remove the political weight of the episode. It comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Fadahunsi, who is not only an APC campaigner but one of the party’s prominent political figures in Osun.
It also follows weeks of heightened tensions in the state, where rival political camps have traded accusations over violence ahead of Saturday’s election.
In July, Ademola Adeleke, Osun governor, accused Fadahunsi and other APC leaders of aiding and abetting political violence and called for economic sanctions and visa restrictions against them.
For Fadahunsi, the latest controversy is another chapter in a bustling career that has taken him from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to the senate and, more recently, from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling APC. In fact, his profile on the national assembly website still lists him as a PDP lawmaker.
FROM ILASE-IJESA TO CUSTOMS: WHO IS FADAHUNSI?
Francis Fadahunsi
FADAHUNSI BUILT A THRIVING CAREER AS A CUSTOMS OFFICER
Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi was born on July 12, 1952, in Ilase-Ijesa to Israel Adekunbi Fadahunsi and Emily Fadahunsi, both indigenes of Ilase-Ijesa.
Fadahunsi had his primary education at Saint Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Ilase-Ijesa, and later his secondary education at Abebeyin Anglican Modern School, Atakumosa West LGA.
Before he became a familiar face in Nigerian politics, Fadahunsi built his career in customs, where he rose through the ranks to become a deputy comptroller-general before retiring from the service.
That background gave him a familiarity with the workings of one of Nigeria’s major revenue-generating and border-management institutions. It also shaped some of the issues on which he became vocal after entering the national assembly.
In 2023, for instance, Fadahunsi opposed proposals to merge the NCS with other revenue and maritime agencies. Drawing on his experience in the service, he argued that such a merger could encourage corruption, ineptitude and inefficiency.
He also publicly criticised aspects of the customs administration under former comptroller-general Hameed Ali, calling for his suspension. In 2020, the senate committee on customs, of which Fadahunsi was deputy chairman, moved to summon Ali over a proposed concession of customs duty collection to a foreign company and demanded documents relating to the agreement.
Fadahunsi also questioned the recruitment process of the service and alleged irregularities in recruitment and postings.
In November 2023, Fadahunsi chaired a senate ad hoc committee investigating the alleged misuse of firearms by customs personnel at border communities. The committee called for sanctions against officers found guilty of abusing firearms and recommended a reduction in the number of checkpoints at border communities.
MORE ABOUT HIS SENATE ACTIVITIES
Fadahunsi entered elective politics after he retired from the NCS. In the February 2019 national assembly election, he contested the Osun-east senatorial seat on the platform of the PDP and defeated then incumbent APC senator, Christopher Omoworare.
His emergence was significant because the PDP had succeeded in taking a senatorial seat from the APC in a state where the ruling party at the federal level had considerable political influence.
In the ninth national assembly, Fadahunsi held committee positions linked to some of the issues closest to his professional background. He was named vice-chairman of the trade and investment committee and later that of the customs, excise and tariffs committee.
From the beginning of his senate career, Fadahunsi established himself as a politician willing to speak his mind, sometimes even when his comments put him at odds with powerful figures.
In March 2019, before the inauguration of the ninth national assembly, he criticised then APC national chairman Adams Oshiomhole over the party’s efforts to influence the choice of senate leadership.
Fadahunsi said Oshiomhole was treating senators like school pupils and warned that imposing a preferred candidate could make Ahmed Lawan appear to be a stooge of the executive.
Months later, he was again in the headlines over the proposed hate speech legislation. Fadahunsi accused then information minister Lai Mohammed of being behind the bill, which he said could cripple journalism. Mohammed denied the allegation, describing it as fake news.
FADAHUNSI ASKED NDLEA TO KEEP DRUG WAR AWAY FROM ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
FADAHUNSI’S CONTROVERSIAL POSITION ATTRACTED CONDEMNATION FROM CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
Fadahunsi’s record also contains a different kind of message about violence and young people. In 2022, he urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to stay away from the entertainment industry, which he described as one of the few sectors giving Nigerian youths something productive to do amid a difficult economy.
He argued that Nollywood and the wider entertainment industry had become a major source of employment for young Nigerians and warned that disrupting the sector could push more youths towards crime.
“The only area that youths are doing well is in the entertainment industry,” Fadahunsi told The PUNCH.
“That’s why I’m pleading with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency not to go to their side. Nollywood and the entertainment industry generally are the largest recruiter of labour at the moment. If the NDLEA puts fire to the industry, the youth will revolt and it will be too dangerous for our country. Many people will run away because we have millions of youths in the entertainment industry.”
But the comments drew public criticism, including a response from the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), which accused Fadahunsi of taking a position that could be interpreted as allowing entertainers to use hard drugs.
Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA’s national coordinator, described the position as a disservice to Nigerian youths and argued that people seeking elective office should be subjected to periodic drug tests, including before elections.
A LAWMAKER WITH A ‘CUSTOMISED’ MINDSET
Fadahunsi’s years in the NCS appear to have influenced the way he approached some of the country’s problems in the senate. His prescriptions were often direct: restrict what comes in, tighten the borders and protect what he considered Nigeria’s interests.
During a debate on the power crisis in November 2019, he proposed a five-year ban on the importation of generators as a way of tackling the country’s electricity problems. The senate rejected the proposal in a voice vote.
Four months later, in March 2020, he called for a ban on the importation of fairly used clothes, popularly known as “Okrika”, arguing that it was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Fadahunsi also railed against what he described as Nigerians’ “craze for foreign things”, citing the importation of frozen foods, soup and other edibles from China.
He urged customs and other relevant agencies to intensify their scrutiny of goods entering the country, particularly through the ports.
TWO TERMS, ONE PARTY — THEN A DRAMATIC SWITCH
Fadahunsi secured re-election to the senate in 2023, again on the PDP platform. For much of his political career in the senate, he was identified with the opposition party in Osun.
However, the PDP would not remain his political home for much longer. In July 2025, Fadahunsi resigned from the party, citing what he described as “irreparable and irreconcilable differences” within the party and prolonged legal disputes following the 2023 elections.
Fadahunsi and three other PDP senators formally defected to the APC. His defection was politically significant in Osun because the PDP controlled the state government under Adeleke at the time.
The move also placed Fadahunsi on the other side of a political divide from the state governor. The former PDP senator had now become an APC lawmaker and one of the figures campaigning against the incumbent administration.
FROM DEFECTOR TO APC CANDIDATE
Fadahunsi’s move to the APC did not end with his defection. In May, he secured the APC’s ticket to contest the Osun-east senatorial seat in the 2027 general election. He defeated other contenders at the party’s primary and emerged as the APC candidate for the district.
That victory gave him another reason to remain deeply invested in APC’s fortunes in Osun and his political relevance in the state expanded beyond his senate constituency.
Ahead of the August 15 governorship election, Fadahunsi became one of the prominent APC figures campaigning for Bola Oyebamiji, the party’s governorship candidate.
His opposition was now no longer directed at the PDP but the ruling Accord Party where Adeleke had also defected. It was in that context that his latest controversy erupted.
TO KILL BY VIOLENCE OR VOTES?
Campaigns are built on persuasion, mobilisation and competition. But with Fadahunsi’s “kill Accord” statement, the thin line between metaphor and threat has become even blurrier. That is the uncomfortable space he now occupies. The violent taketh it by force, — and Fadahunsi by votes?
The immediate question is whether his explanation that he meant to “kill Accord” with votes will end the controversy. Another is whether the controversy itself could follow him to the ballot box, and what effect it may have on his standing with voters in Osun-east.
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