International Observers Say INEC Ready for Osun Governorship Poll, Raise Concern Over BVAS and Population Figures

By Joseph Sunday 

The International Association of World Peace Advocates, IAWPA, one of the accredited international observers for the Osun State governorship election, has declared its readiness to monitor Saturday’s poll across the state.

Speaking at a pre-election press conference in Osogbo, the World Peace Spokesperson for the association, Ambassador Emmanuel Nkweke, said the group has been in Osun for days on pre-election observation duties. 

He disclosed that the association’s Vice President from China is expected to join the team soon, while observers from Cameroon and representatives of both English and French-speaking countries are already on ground.

Ambassador Nkweke said eight international observer groups have been accredited for the election and commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the accreditation.

“Our mission is very clear. It is to support the Nigerian government in achieving a peaceful, free, fair and transparent election in Osun State,” he said.

According to him, the IAWPA observer team will cover all 30 Local Government Areas and the Area Council of Osun State.

Presenting its pre-election findings, the group stated that the Osun governorship election will hold as scheduled on Saturday, 15th August, 2026. 

He revealed a total of 2,339,233 voters registered for the election. He also pointed out that a total of 1,906,390 Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, have been collected so far. 

A total of 15 registered political parties are participating. The Nigeria Police Force has deployed 15,000 personnel while the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has deployed between 10,000 and 17,000 personnel with about 100 operational vehicles. 

While stating that INEC appears prepared for the exercise, the association raised two key concerns.

First is the issue of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS. Nkweke said that based on past experiences with BVAS failures and management of result sheets, the association is advising INEC to provide technical and battery backups for all BVAS machines, deploy technicians to polling units, and provide a dedicated hotline for BVAS online support.

Second is a discrepancy observed in the population reference figures published for the election. The group noted that the 2022 governorship election had a population reference figure of 3,423,535 while the figure published for the 2026 election is 3,415,959 — both reportedly based on the same 2006 census.

“We observed that there is a decline in the figure while using the same 2006 population record. We are calling on INEC to reconcile that record. It is very, very important as part of our secondary source of data,” he said.

The association also commended the security situation in the state, noting that as of the time of the press briefing, there was no excessive militarization in the state capital.

Ambassador Nkweke called on the people of Osun to come out en masse on Saturday to cast their votes peacefully, assuring that international observers are on ground to support a credible process.