The Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness has raised concerns over rising political tensions, pre-election violence and technical challenges ahead of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
The group, in pre-election observation report dated August 12, 2026 presented by its
Director General / Head of Mission, Dr Nwambu Gabriel, said its observers had monitored developments across the 30 local government areas of the state and noted increased voter interest in the election.
It said the number of registered voters in Osun increased from 1,954,800 to 2,339,233 following the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, describing the addition of 384,000 new registrants as an indication of growing civic participation.
However, the organisation said the positive development was being threatened by political tensions, inflammatory rhetoric, electoral violence and uncertainties surrounding the use of technology in the election.
The group also raised concerns over the mock accreditation exercise conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission across 12 local government areas, saying its observers recorded cases of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices failing to recognise voters’ fingerprints, facial features and Permanent Voter Card details.
It urged INEC to immediately address the technical challenges and ensure that the BVAS functions effectively on election day, stressing that the commission must remain, and be seen to remain, non-partisan.
The organisation further claimed that about 40 people had been killed in pre-election-related violence across Osun State, while accusing politicians of abandoning issue-based campaigns for personal attacks, insults and inflammatory statements capable of disrupting public peace.
It called on security agencies to strengthen their presence in areas considered vulnerable to violence, particularly the six local government areas in Ijesaland, and urged them to protect voters and other law-abiding citizens before, during and after the election.
The group also called for the immediate deployment of security measures to identify and remove armed thugs and fake policemen allegedly quartered in some parts of Ijesaland and other locations, while urging the police to investigate the activities of its Intelligence Response Team in the state and secure the release of political actors it described as unlawfully detained.
The Centre said the August 15 election must be a contest of ballots rather than bullets, urging political leaders to avoid inflammatory rhetoric and security agencies to protect lives and property while ensuring that voters can freely exercise their franchise.