By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has declared its readiness for the 15 August 2026 Osun State governorship election following the successful completion of a five-day readiness assessment across the state.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), gave the assurance on Saturday during an interactive session with media executives in Osogbo after leading a team of National Commissioners, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State and other senior officials on an inspection of the ongoing Mock Accreditation Exercise in Obokun, Egbedore and Osogbo Local Government Areas.
The exercise, conducted to assess the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), received what the INEC Chairman described as a satisfactory pass mark.
He said the mock accreditation was a critical quality assurance exercise designed to test the Commission’s technology under real election conditions.
According to Amupitan, the BVAS demonstrated strong field performance, with voter accreditation taking between 30 seconds and two minutes through fingerprint or facial recognition, while its dual-authentication feature significantly reduced cases of failed verification.
To further strengthen the process, the INEC Chairman disclosed that the Commission increased the number of BVAS devices for the election from 4,427 to 5,130 following concerns raised by political parties.
The additional devices will service split polling units in Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North and Osogbo Local Government Areas.
He added that backup BVAS machines had also been increased from 664 to 1,328 to ensure prompt replacement in the event of technical faults on election day.
Amupitan said INEC had sustained consultations with key stakeholders, including political parties, civil society organizations and community leaders, culminating in a recent stakeholders’ conference aimed at promoting a peaceful and credible election.
On security preparations, he said the Commission had integrated an Electoral Risk Management framework into its election planning to identify and monitor potential threats across the state.
He identified Atakumosa East and West, Boripe, Ede North and South, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Ila, Osogbo, Ifelodun and Oriade Local Government Areas as hotspots that would receive enhanced security coverage through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The INEC Chairman also said the Commission had concluded logistics arrangements with transport unions, including the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), after resolving concerns raised by political parties.
He noted that vehicles linked to political actors, violence or pending criminal cases had been excluded from election duties to guarantee neutrality, adding that INEC’s objective was to ensure the simultaneous opening of all 3,763 polling units by 8:30 a.m. on election day.
Amupitan described misinformation and disinformation as the biggest threats to the electoral process in the days ahead, warning against the declaration of unofficial results and the portrayal of isolated technical glitches as widespread failures.
He urged journalists to uphold ethical and fact-based reporting, noting that accredited media personnel would be deployed to monitor the election across the state.
The INEC Chairman reaffirmed the Commission’s neutrality, stressing that its overriding commitment remained the conduct of a free, fair and credible election that reflects the will of the people of Osun State.
