By Jude Opara
The 2026 Osun governorship election has exposed several areas requiring urgent attention before the 2027 general elections, with election observer group Yiaga Africa calling for a technical audit of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), tighter security coordination and stronger enforcement against vote buying.
The organisation made the recommendations on Sunday while presenting its Process and Results Verification Statement on the Osun election in Osogbo.
Chair of the Yiaga Africa 2026 Osun Election Observation Mission, Dr Asmau Maikudi, who delivered the statement alongside the organisation’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, commended voters for turning out despite the challenges surrounding the election.
Yiaga Africa, however, said the lessons from the poll should be urgently applied in preparations for the 2027 elections.
At the centre of its recommendations is the performance of BVAS during voter accreditation. The organisation urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a comprehensive post-election technical audit of the devices to establish the causes of biometric authentication failures.
It also wants INEC to publish the causes of the failures recorded during accreditation and disclose the corrective measures being introduced ahead of 2027.
According to Yiaga Africa, the exercise should be accompanied by improved testing, maintenance and rapid technical support for BVAS devices to minimize disruptions on election day.
The organisation also called for clear and uniform instructions to presiding officers regarding the acceptance of downloadable Permanent Voter Cards and their use for accreditation, arguing that inconsistent interpretation of procedures could create unnecessary confusion at polling units.
Beyond technology, Yiaga Africa identified the training and supervision of ad hoc election officials as another area requiring improvement. It recommended stronger preparation to ensure that election-day procedures are applied consistently across polling units.
Security coordination also came under scrutiny.
The organisation urged security agencies to review their deployment strategy and ensure coordinated movement of personnel, election officials and sensitive electoral materials from Registration Area Centres to polling units.
It further called on the Nigeria Police Force to publish a report detailing its deployment during the Osun election, including arrests made and plans for prosecuting suspects.
Yiaga Africa said such transparency was particularly important in addressing violence recorded during the pre-election period and ensuring that those responsible for attacks resulting in loss of lives are brought to justice.
Vote buying and voter inducement were also highlighted as continuing threats to electoral credibility.
The organisation urged the security agencies, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to extend enforcement beyond the immediate polling-unit environment.
According to Yiaga Africa, inducement increasingly takes place in surrounding areas rather than directly inside polling stations, making wider enforcement necessary.
It called for the arrest and prosecution of those involved, including party agents and financiers.
Political parties, on their part, were urged to strengthen the training of polling agents on the Electoral Act 2026, INEC regulations and election guidelines. Yiaga Africa also called for increased voter education ahead of the 2027 polls.
Despite the concerns it raised, the organisation said its independent verification of the Osun results broadly aligned with the figures announced by INEC.
Its observation methodology deployed 300 stationary observers, 32 mobile observers and 30 Local Government Area results-collation observers across the state’s 30 LGAs.
Yiaga Africa said reports were received from 289 of its 300 sampled polling units, representing 96 per cent coverage.
The organisation said the official results were consistent with its statistical estimates, particularly in relation to polling-unit result tabulation. It cautioned, however, that this finding did not resolve concerns surrounding vote buying and voter inducement.
Similarly, Yiaga Africa said INEC’s officially reported voter turnout of 43 per cent fell within its estimated range of 42.5 to 44.8 per cent.
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