Osun Poll: Situation Room Flags Vote Buying, BVAS Failures

By Jane Okeke

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has identified vote buying, BVAS malfunctions and logistical delays as major weaknesses exposed by Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.

In its final assessment of the poll, the observers said the election was largely peaceful, with voters turning out across the state and election officials generally following established procedures.

But the group raised concerns over the conduct of some political actors, particularly alleged attempts to induce voters with cash, food and other incentives after they had cast their ballots.

The Situation Room reported instances where party agents allegedly recorded voters’ names and phone numbers, while in some polling units voters were reportedly given tags after indicating the parties they supported.

The performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, was another concern. The observers recorded cases of slow accreditation, fingerprint authentication failures and difficulties recognising voters’ faces, particularly among elderly voters.

The group also linked delays at some polling units to the late production and distribution of sensitive election materials following the court-ordered addition of the SDP candidate to the ballot.

Despite the challenges, the Situation Room noted that 98.43 per cent of polling-unit results had been uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal as of August 16, describing the development as an indication of progress in electronic result management.

It also commended security agencies for maintaining a generally calm atmosphere, although isolated reports of harassment, thuggery and other electoral infractions were recorded.

The observers are now urging INEC to conduct a transparent post-election review ahead of the 2027 general elections, focusing on logistics, BVAS deployment, result transmission, security, accessibility and complaints management.

The Situation Room says the Osun election should serve as a warning and a learning point, insisting that Nigeria’s next electoral cycle must produce not only peaceful elections, but polls that citizens can confidently regard as credible, transparent and accountable.

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