#OsunDecides2026: TMG commends INEC, Osun voters, urges protection of electoral mandate

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a democracy advocacy group, has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and voters in Osun State for the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election, urging political actors and the judiciary to protect the mandate given by the electorate.

TMG said the election was largely free of major technical glitches in most locations, while results were mostly uploaded in real time on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

The group made its position known in a statement shared on Sunday by its chairman, Auwal Musa, who is also the executive director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).

According to Mr Umar, who is also known as Rafsanjani, the Osun election showed that improvements in Nigeria’s electoral process are possible when INEC’s systems and procedures work as intended.

He noted that the commission deserved commendation for areas where it performed well, while Nigerians should continue to demand greater transparency and accountability from the electoral body.

“INEC deserves commendation where it gets things right. The Osun experience demonstrates that the Commission is capable of conducting a transparent electoral process, particularly through the effective deployment of technology and real-time results transmission,” he stressed.

TMG, however, said responsibility for electoral malpractice should not always be placed on INEC. It argued that practices such as vote buying, voter intimidation and thuggery are often perpetrated by politicians and their agents.

It called for those involved in such practices to be held accountable.

The group also urged the judiciary to protect genuine electoral mandates and ensure that post-election litigation does not undermine the will of voters.

While acknowledging the constitutional role of the courts in resolving electoral disputes, TMG stated that electoral litigation should strengthen confidence in the ballot rather than provide a means of overturning the choice of voters through technicalities or politically motivated cases.

The call came after Mr Adeleke was declared winner of the election by the State Returning Officer, Joshua Ogunwole, at the state collation centre in Osogbo on Sunday.

Mr Adeleke, the candidate of the Accord Party, polled 511,067 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes.

The governor won by a margin of 66,252 votes, while Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came third with 17,180 votes.

A total of 2,339,544 voters were registered for the election, with 1,010,684 accredited. Of the 1,005,800 votes cast, 985,079 were valid while 20,721 were rejected.

TMG also commended Osun voters for participating peacefully in the election despite reports of vote buying, intimidation, harassment and other attempts to influence voters.

It said the outcome should serve as a warning to politicians who believe that money, violence and voter suppression can permanently determine electoral outcomes.

The group urged candidates and political parties that participated in the election to accept the result and use the appropriate legal channels to challenge any genuine grievances.

Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, TMG urged Nigerians to take greater responsibility for choosing their leaders by obtaining and safeguarding their Permanent Voter Cards, turning out to vote and refusing to sell their votes.

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It also urged voters to assess candidates based on their character, competence, track record and programmes rather than religion, ethnicity, region or party loyalty.

“Democracy is ultimately strengthened by informed and courageous voters. Nigerians must not sell their votes and must not allow religion, ethnicity, region or party loyalty to replace the responsibility of evaluating candidates on their character, competence, track record and credible plans for the country,” TMG said.

The group urged INEC to build on what it described as the gains recorded in Osun by improving its election technology, logistics, voter accreditation, results transmission and public communication ahead of 2027.

It also called on security and law enforcement agencies to intensify efforts against vote buying, intimidation, thuggery and other electoral offences.

TMG noted that the experience in Osun, alongside recent governorship elections in Anambra, Ondo, Edo and Ekiti states, showed that peaceful elections were possible when electoral processes were credible and the will of voters was respected.