Election Watchdog KDI Flags BVAS Hitches, Violence in Osun Poll

The Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), an election monitoring group, has disclosed a 15.3 percent failure rate for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during initial accreditation attempts in the Osun State governorship election. In its preliminary evaluation of the poll, KDI also documented three incidents of violence and received 19 complaints of vote buying. The organisation clarified that these findings, collected via its Election Day Data Room (EDDR) up to midday on election day, do not represent a conclusive assessment.

KDI deployed 370 trained and accredited observers across Osun State, covering all 30 Local Government Areas, 332 wards, and 1,660 polling units. Their preliminary report indicated an 84.7 percent success rate for BVAS accreditation attempts, with the remaining 15.3 percent failing. Specific areas where BVAS challenges were prominent included Ifedayo, Ife North, Osogbo, Ayedaade, Irepodun, Iwo, and Egbedore. The observer group highlighted that the effectiveness of these accreditation devices was crucial to the election's smooth conduct, especially given that technical glitches often led to voter delays and long queues.

Regarding the presence of electoral officials, KDI noted that 56.1 percent of polling units reporting to its data room observed officials arriving either early or on time, whereas 43 percent experienced late arrivals. Locations such as Ifedayo, Osogbo, Ola-Oluwa, Ayedaade, Iwo, Ayedire, Atakumosa West, Odo-Otin, and Irepodun showed the highest instances of these delays. Despite these punctual challenges, KDI confirmed that election materials were largely secure, with 98.9 percent of reports confirming their intactness.

Voting commenced before 8:45 am in 79.3 percent of the polling units monitored by the organization, while 19.8 percent began between 8:45 am and 9:59 am, and 0.9 percent started at or after 10 am. KDI also documented 19 instances of voter inducement out of 2,127 reports gathered during its assessment, amounting to roughly 0.9 percent. These incidents were predominantly observed in Odo-Otin, Irepodun, Ife North, and Osogbo, with alleged perpetrators identified as party supporters, party agents, and community leaders.

Furthermore, KDI received 17 reports detailing interference by party agents and seven reports concerning security agent interference in polling activities. By midday, three violence-related incidents had been confirmed. These occurred in Ife East, Ejigbo, and Ilesa West. Specifically, in Ejigbo Local Government Area, Ward 4, Unit 13, political thugs allegedly stormed a polling unit, dispersed voters, and made away with election materials. An incident in Ife East reportedly involved police officers who invaded a Registration Area Centre and deployed tear gas during the distribution of election materials. In Ilesa West, Ward 8, Unit 7, political thugs were reported to have disrupted the voting process, forcing voters to flee.

KDI observed that the reported cases of election-day violence by noon were considerably fewer compared to the pre-election period. During its pre-election monitoring, the group had documented 81 election-related violence incidents and 15 fatalities between October 2025 and August 2026. Nevertheless, the organization warned against concluding that the security risks had diminished entirely based solely on these initial election-day figures.

KDI affirmed its commitment to continue monitoring the behavior of security agencies, especially as the electoral process transitions into vote counting and collation stages. The organization stated that its observers would remain deployed until the close of polls, through the counting, completion, and handling of result forms, electronic transmission, and final collation. A comprehensive end-of-day assessment will be released by KDI upon the receipt, verification, and analysis of all reports. The initiative appealed to all stakeholders to uphold peace, respect the rights of voters, and permit election officials and other authorized personnel to conclude the voting, counting, and collation processes free from intimidation, violence, or unwarranted interference.