Vows to independently verify election results
Civil society election monitoring group Yiaga Africa has expressed deep concerns regarding election-day readiness following technical challenges observed during the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) mock accreditation exercise ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday during the opening of its situation room in Osogbo, Dr Asmau Maikudi Itodo, Chairman of the 2026 Osun Election Observation Mission and Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, noted that the failure of several Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices to recognise voters’ fingerprints, facial features, and older Permanent Voter Card (PVC) records poses a significant threat to the process.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, had allayed fears of the people and attributed the facial verification failures to an excessively high compatibility threshold affecting older voter data, particularly records that had not been revalidated.
Yiaga warned that if left unresolved, these technical glitches could disenfranchise eligible voters, stoke tension at polling units, and undermine public confidence in the credibility and legitimacy of the election.
Consequently, the group said INEC must urgently fix all outstanding technological challenges, particularly with the BVAS devices, to prevent widespread voter disenfranchisement and operational delays.
It added that the commission must activate immediate contingency measures to manage late arrivals and the redistribution of revised ballot papers and result sheets, ensuring timely delivery to all Registration Area Centres (RACs) and polling units.
Yiaga called for more consistent harmony within the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to adequately protect election officials stationed at RACs prior to deployment.
It insisted that INEC must strictly comply with the Electoral Act and its own regulations regarding results management, guaranteeing unhindered access for accredited party agents, observers, and the media at all collation centres.
To independently verify the integrity of the poll from the ballot box to the results portal, Yiaga Africa announced that it will deploy two complementary, evidence-based methodologies on Saturday.
“On Election Day, (Watching The Vote) will deploy 300 stationary observers to a representative random sample of polling units, supported by 32 mobile observers across all 30 LGAs of Osun State.
“This allows Yiaga Africa to provide timely, accurate information on accreditation, voting, and counting, and to independently verify the official governorship results announced by INEC. If the announced results match the ballots cast at polling units, we will confirm the outcome. If not, Yiaga Africa will expose any manipulation of the results,” Dr Itodo stated.
Yiaga Africa called on security agencies to respect the rights of citizens, journalists, and accredited observers, specifically ensuring freedom of movement for authorised personnel on election day.
The group also urged stronger collaboration with anti-graft bodies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to clamp down on vote-buying syndicates and political actors attempting to subvert the process.
(The Sun)
