Osun poll: KDI flags vote buying, BVAS failures, violence

The Kimpact Development Initiative(KDI )has raised concerns over vote buying, technical challenges with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and election-related violence during the 2026 Osun State governorship election.

The organisation also reported alleged interference by some security personnel, discrepancies in the accreditation and voting figures, and voter inducement across the state.

Speaking at a post-election review press conference of the poll in Osun on Thursday, a KDI faculty member, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to strengthen its election-day operational preparedness ahead of the 2027 general elections.

She specifically urged the commission to improve BVAS functionality and provide adequate technical support to reduce accreditation delays and prevent elderly voters from being disenfranchised.

Ogun-Yusuf also called for improved communication by the electoral commission, particularly during interruptions in the uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing portal.

She said timely and clear communication would help reduce uncertainty, misinformation and public anxiety during elections.

The KDI faculty member further urged INEC to clarify the validation rules for electronic EC8A results and establish a clear reconciliation process for conflicting result records.

According to KDI, 82 polling units recorded instances where the number of accredited voters exceeded the votes recorded.

The organisation, however, cautioned that the discrepancy did not by itself constitute evidence of electoral irregularity.

At the state collation centre, KDI said 1,010,684 accredited voters were reported against 1,005,800 total votes cast, representing a difference of 4,884.

The organisation said the figures underscored the need for clearer reconciliation between accreditation and result-management stages.

KDI said the discrepancies should undergo further technical review ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Its Executive Director, Bukola Idowu, said the Osun election demonstrated that Nigeria’s electoral institutions and citizens could participate in a competitive off-cycle election without widespread disruption.

“Most polling units observed by KDI were able to conduct voting; election materials were available in the large majority of locations; and Election Day remained relatively peaceful compared with the pre-election period,” Idowu said.

She, however, warned that the relatively peaceful conduct of the election should not overshadow weaknesses identified during the exercise.

“Delays in election administration, uneven BVAS performance, voter inducement, reports of security interference, localised violence and discrepancies identified through result analysis all point to areas where institutional preparedness and accountability require further strengthening,” she said.

On security, a former Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Abutu Yaro, commended the deployment and professionalism of security agencies during the election.

He said the large deployment was a proactive response to heightened pre-election violence.

KDI reported that security personnel were deployed to all polling units observed by its monitors, with the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps among the most prominent.

However, seven per cent of processed reports received through KDI’s Election Day Data and Reporting platform indicated alleged interference in the electoral process by security personnel.

The incidents were reported in Odo-Otin, Ifedayo, Ede South, Ifelodun, Atakumosa West, Oriade, Ife North, Obokun and Ilesa West.

KDI also received reports linking some security personnel to alleged vote-trading activities.

Yaro said the reports should not be generalised to the entire security establishment but stressed the need for operational neutrality and public confidence.

“Security agencies play a central role in protecting voters, election officials and election materials. Their conduct therefore has implications beyond individual incidents,” he said.

KDI further said it verified 17 election-related violence incidents across 10 local government areas, involving more than 44 documented victims.

The incidents included gunshots, physical assaults, intimidation and harassment.

Voting was disrupted in one polling unit in Ejigbo Local Government Area, leading to the cancellation of the election in the affected area.

KDI said Ejigbo and Osogbo recorded the highest proportions of verified election-day violence incidents, with each accounting for 17.6 per cent.

The organisation noted that the election-day violence was limited when compared with its pre-election monitoring.

Between October 2025 and August 2026, KDI recorded 81 election-related violence incidents and 15 fatalities across Osun State.

Meanwhile, a KDI faculty member, Prof Ernest Ekere, said the organisation received reports of vote trading and voter inducement across the 30 local government areas.

Party supporters accounted for 46.8 per cent of reported actors, followed by party agents at 29.8 per cent, he said.

Voters accounted for 10.6 per cent, while community leaders represented 9.6 per cent of the reported actors.

Ekere said the reported inducements included food items, drinks and cash payments ranging from N5,000 to N50,000.

He said inducement was increasingly being conducted discreetly through vehicles parked away from polling units and small businesses such as food vendors and provision shops.

“This pattern is significant because it demonstrates that monitoring conducted solely within the immediate polling-unit environment may not capture the full inducement ecosystem,” Ekere said.

KDI urged security agencies to strengthen early-warning and conflict-prevention mechanisms and ensure the prompt investigation and prosecution of election-related offences.

It also called on political parties and candidates to promote issue-based campaigns, deploy properly trained polling agents and pursue lawful dispute-resolution mechanisms.

The organisation urged the media to avoid amplifying unverified claims, inflammatory rhetoric and misinformation capable of escalating political tensions.

KDI also called for legal reforms establishing clear timelines for pre-election cases to prevent late litigation from affecting INEC’s procurement and logistics arrangements.

Idowu said the lessons from Osun should be used to strengthen safeguards ahead of the 2027 elections.

“The credibility of an election also depends on the freedom of voters to make their choices, the consistent application of electoral rules, the professionalism of electoral and security personnel, the reliability of election technology, the accuracy of result collation, and the transparency with which results are communicated,” she said.