Lessons from Osun Poll for INEC Ahead of 2027 Elections

The Osun State governorship election, which saw Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party declared the winner with 511,067 votes against Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, who garnered 444,815 votes, served as a critical test for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). While INEC received praise for conducting a relatively peaceful and transparent election, observers noted significant shortcomings that must be addressed before the 2027 general elections.

Issues included the late arrival of electoral materials and officials at polling units, failures of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and a nearly four-hour suspension in uploading Form EC8A result sheets to the IReV portal, which raised suspicions of manipulation. INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan has asserted that the 2027 elections will be the best in Nigeria's history, but the challenges faced during the Osun election have left some citizens skeptical about this claim.