Osun guber: INEC assures readiness, warns against violence

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), on Thursday, assured political parties and voters that the commission was fully prepared for the August 15 Osun State governorship election, while warning that violence, voter intimidation and vote buying would not be tolerated.

Speaking at the signing of the Osun Governorship Election Peace Accord in Osogbo, Amupitan said INEC had successfully completed seven of the nine activities contained in its election timetable, leaving only the end of campaigns on August 13 and the conduct of the election on August 15.

He disclosed that 2,339,233 eligible voters would participate in the exercise across 3,763 polling units in the state’s 30 local government areas and the Modakeke Area Office.

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The INEC chairman expressed concern over recent reports of political violence in parts of the state, stressing that insecurity posed a serious threat to the credibility of the election.

He said the commission had adopted intelligence-driven security measures in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the Police and other security agencies to guarantee the safety of voters, election personnel and materials.

Amupitan also addressed recent incidents involving the theft of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Okuku and Ife Central, assuring the public that the stolen cards could not be used to vote because accreditation would be carried out exclusively through biometric verification using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

According to him, the stolen cards would be blacklisted, while affected voters would receive replacements or digital verification options.

He announced that INEC had deployed 4,427 BVAS devices, including backup units, for the election and reaffirmed that there would be no manual accreditation. He added that results from all polling units would be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) immediately after voting to enhance transparency.

The commission, he said, would also conduct a statewide mock accreditation exercise on Saturday, August 1, in 12 selected local government areas to test its technology and logistics ahead of the election.

He invited political parties, election observers, civil society organisations and the media to monitor the exercise as part of efforts to build public confidence in the electoral process.

Amupitan warned politicians and their supporters against violence, hate speech and the deployment of armed groups, saying leadership attained through bloodshed or intimidation was unacceptable.

He also disclosed that security agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) would deploy operatives to monitor polling units and arrest anyone involved in vote buying or vote selling.

He urged political parties, candidates and voters to uphold the spirit of the Peace Accord, insisting that INEC was interested only in a credible and lawful electoral process

He called on the people of Osun to participate peacefully in the election and help preserve the state’s democratic tradition.