Lessons from Osun Poll for INEC in 2027

 Despite the commendations the Independent National Electoral Commission received for its performance in the Osun State governorship election, the poll offers it an opportunity to address the obvious shortcomings ahead of the 2027 general election, Davidson Iriekpen writes 

The Osun State governorship election may have come and gone, but it offered the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), an opportunity to test its systems and logistics ahead of the 2027 general election.

As Nigerians anxiously await the 2027 elections, they would not want to experience the late arrival of electoral officials at polling units, the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and the refusal to upload the Form EC8A result sheets on the Result Viewing portal (IReV).

Recall that INEC had declared the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party (AP), the winner, having polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes.

Though the relatively peaceful conduct of the election and the acceptance of the result by major stakeholders attracted commendation for INEC, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, assessments of the poll by observers also revealed that the commission still has work to do, particularly in the areas of technology, logistics and voter access to casting their votes.

For INEC, though the most important lesson from Osun is that a credible election is possible when the process is properly planned, adequately resourced and closely monitored, the challenge is whether those standards can be maintained when the commission moves from managing a single-state election to a nationwide exercise involving thousands of officials, multiple elections and 176,846 polling units.

Even though INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan has, on many occasions since his appointment last year, reiterated that the 2027 general election would be the best in the country’s history, some of the off-cycle elections he has conducted have dimmed the people’s hopes. They therefore saw the Osun election as a litmus test for the commission.

Fortunately, the commission did not disappoint Nigerians in the Osun election, conducting a fair, free, and transparent poll.

However, despite the commendations INEC received for a job well done, electoral materials and officials arrived late at polling units, and BVAS devices failed in several polling units, delaying voting in some places and preventing some voters from casting their ballots.

Also, for inexplicable reasons, during the upload of Form EC8A result sheets on the IReV portal, the process was suddenly suspended for nearly four hours, creating anxiety and tension and giving rise to suspicion that it was being manipulated in favour of a particular political party.

For instance, the British High Commission, while congratulating the Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, on his re-election, also raised concerns over issues believed to be capable of tainting the credibility of the exercise. It said the issues included alleged vote-buying, voter interference, and overcrowding linked to the limited and slow deployment of BVAS devices.

The high commission urged INEC to examine recommendations from credible election-monitoring organisations, including the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, as part of efforts to improve transparency, accountability and public confidence.

Looking beyond Osun, the British mission warned that the circumstances surrounding an off-cycle governorship election could differ considerably from those of the 2027 general election. It noted that the Osun exercise benefited from additional personnel and resources, arrangements that may be more difficult to reproduce when electoral authorities are simultaneously managing nationwide presidential, governorship and legislative elections.

“We hope that the experience of the Osun election will help inform further improvements that strengthen the integrity, inclusiveness and credibility of future electoral processes,” it said.

Similarly, the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) commended INEC for the peaceful conduct of the poll in the state.

CODER, in a statement jointly signed by Michael Popoola Ajayi and Alhassan Adamu, said its assessment of the electoral process showed noticeable improvements in the management of the election compared with challenges recorded during previous electoral exercises.

The coalition particularly praised INEC for its handling of logistics, deployment of electoral materials and personnel, voter accreditation through the BVAS, professional conduct of its officials, collation of results and uploading of polling-unit results on the IReV.

It also commended the commission for the eventual declaration of the election result, describing the effective deployment of technology, especially BVAS and IReV, as factors that contributed to greater transparency and public confidence in the process.

Also speaking at a press conference in Osogbo, Yiaga Africa said that the Osun poll had demonstrated that INEC can deliver a credible electoral process. It added that its observers found that the commission and security agencies largely passed the test of election-day preparedness.

Speaking through the Chair of the 2026 Osun Election Observation Mission, Dr. Asmau Maikudi, Yiaga Africa said the election provided an important test of Nigeria’s new Electoral Act 2026 and the capacity of electoral institutions ahead of the 2027 general election. It charged INEC to reproduce its performance at the concluded governorship election across the 176,000 polling units in the 36 states in the 2027 elections.

However, the organisation identified gaps in the implementation of electoral technology, particularly cases involving biometric authentication and the use of downloadable Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

According to Yiaga Africa, downloadable PVCs were presented for accreditation in 23 per cent of polling units. At the same time, observers reported that some voters presenting digital documents were denied accreditation at 7% of polling units. It said its most significant concern was not the accuracy of the announced results but the circumstances surrounding voters’ choices, citing widespread reports of vote buying and voter inducement.

Yiaga Africa said its independent statistical analysis showed that INEC’s official results were consistent with the ballots counted at polling units. Its estimates placed the Accord Party between 50.3 per cent and 54.0 per cent, ADC between 1.4 per cent and 2.1 per cent, and APC between 43.0 per cent and 46.8 per cent of the vote.

One of the major takeaways from the Osun governorship election is that credible elections are not illusions. They are doable with adequate planning and preparation. All the persistent shortcomings of INEC in conducting elections must be put aside. For many years, Nigerians have had to doubt whether they will ever witness a truly free, fair and credible election in their lifetime.

This is why, as they look forward to the 2027 elections, Amupitan must ensure that he holds tenaciously to his much-touted integrity and credibility to address the credibility deficits that have followed elections in the country. He must also present himself as an impartial umpire who is committed to the sanctity of the ballot, and not as a servant of political interests.

All the commission need to do is adequate planning. Nigerians do not want to hear that the BVAS failed incessantly or that there were glitches on the IReV. They want to see early and continuous uploading result sheets on the portal.

On the massive vote-buying that took place in Osun, many are wondering why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) did not show strong presence in the state to checkmate the malaise. They hope that they won’t replicate same negligence in 2027.