Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, on Saturday declared the Commission fully prepared for the 15 August 2026 Osun State Governorship Election, as he wound up a five-day readiness assessment tour of the state with an interactive session with media executives in Osogbo. This was contained in the INEC Daily Bulletin, Volume 2, Number 480 of August 1, 2026.
Earlier in the day, the INEC Chairman had led a team of National Commissioners, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State, and other senior officials on a field inspection of the ongoing Mock Accreditation Exercise across polling units in Obokun, Egbedore, and Osogbo Local Government Areas, where he assessed the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
Speaking with newsmen during the exercise, Prof. Amupitan gave the accreditation process a satisfactory pass mark, describing the field test as a critical step in ascertaining the functionality of the technology ahead of the election.
Addressing media executives later in the day at the INEC State Office, Osogbo, the Chairman said the interactive session was deliberately timed, coming exactly fifteen days to the governorship poll, and described the media as an indispensable partner in the electoral process.
He said the Commission had gone into the field rather than rely on paperwork, describing the Mock Accreditation Exercise as INEC’s quality assurance protocol designed to stress-test its technological infrastructure under real-world conditions.
According to him, the BVAS demonstrated strong field resilience, with voter verification taking between 30 seconds and two minutes using fingerprint or facial recognition, while the dual-authentication design significantly reduced cases of non-verification.
The Chairman disclosed that, in response to concerns raised by some political parties, the Commission had increased the total number of BVAS devices for the election from 4,427 to 5,130, to service split polling units in Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North, and Osogbo, with backup devices similarly raised from 664 to 1,328 for prompt intervention in the event of malfunction.
He said the Commission’s engagement with stakeholders in Osun State had been inclusive, noting that a Stakeholders’ Conference was recently held where political parties, civil society organisations, and community leaders deliberated on a road map for a peaceful election.
On security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had integrated an Electoral Risk Management (ERM) framework into its planning to systematically collect, analyse, and monitor risk indicators across the state. He listed Atakumosa East and West, Boripe, Ede North and South, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Ila, Osogbo, Ifelodun, and Oriade Local Government Areas as identified hotspots that would receive specialised, high-visibility security deployment, working through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
On logistics, the IENC Chairman said the Commission had held intensive meetings with transport unions, including the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and had finalised agreements with them after addressing concerns raised by some political parties. He said vehicles linked to political affiliations, violence, or pending criminal cases had been excluded from the arrangement, adding that the goal remained the simultaneous opening of all 3,763 polling units at exactly 8:30 a.m. on election day.
Turning to the media, Prof. Amupitan described misinformation and disinformation as the greatest threat to the process in the days ahead, warning against the unauthorized declaration of parallel results and the mischaracterisation of isolated glitches as systemic failures. He said the Commission had accredited field reporters to observe the process directly and called for verified, ethical, and dispassionate reporting in the lead-up to the election.
The Chairman reaffirmed that INEC remained an independent and neutral umpire, stating that the Commission’s sole interest was in ensuring a clean process that reflected the true will of the Osun electorate.
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