Yiaga Africa has described the just-concluded Osun State governorship election as a significant demonstration of how technology, citizen vigilance and institutional preparedness can strengthen electoral integrity.

It said the official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were consistent with its independent verification of ballots counted at polling units.

The civil society organisation, in its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) statement on the election on Sunday, said its statistical estimates closely matched the official results announced by INEC, indicating that the figures declared at the state collation centre reflected the votes counted at polling units.

It said it deployed 300 observers and 32 mobile observers across the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state, alongside 30 LGA results collation observers. The organisation said its assessment was based on reports from 289 of the 300 sampled polling units, representing 96 per cent of its sample.

According to the organisation, its PRVT estimates projected Accord to win between 50.3 and 54.0 per cent of the vote, against INEC’s official 51.9 per cent. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) was projected to secure between 1.4 and 2.1 per cent, compared with INEC’s 1.7 per cent, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) was projected at between 43.0 and 46.8 per cent, against the official 45.2 per cent.

Yiaga Africa said the results fell within its estimated ranges, providing evidence that the official figures were consistent with the ballots counted at polling units. It stressed, however, that the finding did not amount to an endorsement of the entire electoral process, particularly amid widespread reports of vote buying and voter inducement.

The organisation said the consistency between its estimates and the official results specifically demonstrated the accuracy of the tabulation of polling-unit results, noting that significant alteration of results at ward, LGA or state collation centres would have produced figures outside its statistical ranges.

On voter participation, Yiaga Africa estimated turnout at between 42.5 and 44.8 per cent, while INEC announced an official turnout of 43 per cent, which also fell within its confidence interval.

The group said election-day logistics represented one of the notable improvements, despite the last-minute court-ordered inclusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which required INEC to reprint ballot papers and result sheets shortly before the poll.

It said 48 per cent of sampled polling units had commenced accreditation and voting by 8:30 a.m., rising to 96 per cent by 9:30 a.m., a performance comparable with the 2022 Osun governorship election.
On electoral technology, Yiaga Africa said BVAS was deployed to all polling units and functioned properly in 80 per cent of them, while malfunctions occurred in 20 per cent but were subsequently resolved.

The observers also recorded cases where BVAS failed to authenticate the fingerprints or facial biometrics of voters, particularly elderly persons. In 11 per cent of polling units, some voters whose PVCs had been successfully verified were reportedly denied accreditation because the device could not authenticate their biometric details.

It reported that copies of the Electoral Act 2026 were presented in 23 per cent of sampled polling units, with most voters successfully accredited.

It, however, noted that in seven per cent of polling units where downloadable PVCs were presented, some voters were reportedly denied accreditation. The organisation also documented one verified polling unit where all voters who presented downloadable PVCs were denied accreditation.

Yiaga Africa said the transparency of the counting process was generally high, with polling officials showing the marking of ballot papers to people present in 99 per cent of sampled polling units, while official results were posted for public viewing in 91 per cent.

It also reported that presiding officers used BVAS to scan or photograph Form EC8A and transmit it to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in 85 per cent of polling units, while 87 per cent transferred results from validated EC8A forms to the e-EC8A on BVAS.

Despite the gains, the organisation raised concerns over an interruption in the uploading of results to IReV, saying transmissions stalled between 8:48 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., leaving 471 polling-unit results outstanding after 3,292 had been uploaded. Transmission resumed at about 11:50 p.m.

It urged INEC to explain the disruption, warning that maintaining public confidence in electronic results management required timely and complete uploads as well as prompt disclosure when technological or operational problems occur.

The organisation also identified citizen vigilance as a major factor in protecting electoral integrity, saying voters remained at polling units to witness the sorting, counting and announcement of results and followed the process to ward and LGA collation centres.

While commending the generally professional conduct of security personnel on election day, Yiaga Africa said security agencies must sustain neutrality across elections and strengthen enforcement against vote buying, intimidation and electoral violence.

It said the Osun election had provided an important test of the Electoral Act 2026 and the preparedness of INEC and security agencies ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to Yiaga Africa, the challenge is to replicate the lessons of Osun across the 36 states and about 176,000 polling units expected to be involved in the 2027 elections, without the concentration of attention and resources that accompanies an off-cycle governorship election.

The organisation consequently urged INEC to strengthen quality assurance for election materials, address inconsistencies in voter data, standardise the use of downloadable PVCs, improve BVAS testing and technical support, and strengthen the resilience and transparency of IReV.

It also called on security agencies to review their deployment ahead of 2027, while urging the police to publish details of its Osun election deployment, including arrests made and plans to prosecute perpetrators of electoral violence.

Political parties, it said, should train polling agents on the Electoral Act 2026, INEC regulations and voter education, while security agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) should intensify enforcement against vote buying and voter inducement beyond polling-unit precincts.

It said it would release a comprehensive report with additional data and recommendations as it begins its countrywide preparations for the 2027 general elections.