Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Joash Amupitan, on Wednesday, assured stakeholders that the commission is logistically, technically and operationally ready to conduct a credible governorship election in Osun State on August 15, 2026.
Amupitan stated that INEC will deliver a credible election in line with the Electoral Act 2026 and its established regulations and guidelines.
The electoral umpire gave the assurance on Wednesday while addressing political parties, security agencies, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, election observers and media representatives at the Osun State Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum held in Osogbo.
He described the gathering as an accountability platform where the commission presented its operational readiness ahead of the poll, saying comprehensive readiness audits had been completed across the state’s 30 local government area offices.
He added that the commission was fully prepared to conduct a transparent electoral process.
“Following comprehensive readiness audits across our 30 Local Government Area offices, I am here to assure you that the Commission is logistically, technologically and operationally prepared to deliver an election that fully satisfies the standards of the Electoral Act 2026,” he said.
The INEC chairman disclosed that the certified register for the election contained 2,339,233 registered voters across 30 local government areas, 332 registration areas and 3,763 polling units, while 14 political parties would participate in the governorship contest.
He announced that the collection of Permanent Voter Cards had been extended until Friday, July 31, after 322,822 newly registered voters, representing 62 per cent, collected their cards before the earlier deadline.
Amupitan said, “The commission adopted the extension to ensure that no eligible voter was disenfranchised, while additional security would be deployed around PVC collection centres. Invalid and multiple registrations had been removed through the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), leaving only verified eligible voters on the register.
“INEC had strengthened its logistics by establishing 97 Super Registration Area Centres and 105 Registration Area Centres to facilitate early deployment of election materials.
“Transportation agreements with transport unions would be fully concluded before the election, while all polling units were expected to commence accreditation and voting by 8.30 a.m.”
The INEC chairman also highlighted the commission’s technological preparations, revealing that 4,427 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS devices, including 664 backup units, had been customised for the August 15 election.
He stressed that biometric verification remained the only legal means of accreditation and that there would be no manual accreditation, while polling unit results would be uploaded directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV.
Addressing security concerns, Amupitan said INEC had integrated an Electoral Risk Management framework into its planning and was working closely with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, noting that intelligence-led deployments would focus on identified flashpoints to prevent violence, ballot disruption and voter intimidation.
He also reassured residents following the theft of uncollected PVCs from INEC offices in Odo-Otin and Ife Central local government areas, stating that stolen cards could not be used to vote without successful biometric verification, adding that affected PVCs would either be reprinted or replaced with downloadable versions for eligible voters.
On vote-buying, Amupitan disclosed that the commission had partnered with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and other relevant agencies to combat both physical and electronic inducement of voters, warning that anyone attempting to compromise the electoral process would face the full weight of the law.
Speaking at the forum, the National Commissioner supervising Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ondo States, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, urged the media and civil society organisations to collaborate with INEC to ensure a peaceful and successful election.
He said the commission had introduced safeguards, including the BVAS and IReV platforms, to prevent manipulation of the electoral process.
Ajayi urged political parties, candidates and their supporters to conduct their campaigns peacefully and obey electoral laws and urged traditional rulers to continue promoting peace and encouraging the media to report the election professionally and without bias.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State, Oluwatoyin Babalola, welcomed stakeholders and appreciated their continued collaboration with the commission.
She said the stakeholders’ meeting was organised to brief participants on INEC’s level of preparedness, disclosing that ad-hoc staff training would take place from July 31 to August 9 across all local government areas, election materials had already arrived in the state and were secured at the Central Bank of Nigeria, while security agencies had concluded preparations to ensure that eligible voters cast their ballots in a peaceful, free and fair election.
