The Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) commends the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, as well as the people of Osun State, for their respective contributions to the peaceful and successful conduct of the 15 August 2026 Osun State Governorship Election.
Following our observation of the electoral process, CODER considers the performance of INEC in this election a significant improvement over some of the challenges experienced in previous electoral exercises.
We particularly commend INEC for its performance across the various stages of the electoral process, including logistics and deployment of electoral materials and personnel, voter accreditation through the BVAS, the professional conduct of its personnel, prompt collation of results, uploading of polling-unit results on the IReV portal and the eventual declaration of the election result.
The effective deployment and utilisation of technology, particularly the BVAS and IReV platforms, contributed to greater transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
While acknowledging that there may still be areas requiring improvement, CODER believes that the overall performance of INEC demonstrates that the Commission is capable of learning from past experiences and progressively improving the quality of election management in Nigeria.
CODER also commends the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies for the professional manner in which they handled security concerns before, during and after the election.
This commendation is particularly significant given the heightened tension, apprehension and concerns over possible violence in the days preceding the election.
The ability of the security agencies to maintain relative peace and order enabled citizens to exercise their democratic rights without widespread disruption.
We urge the security agencies to sustain this level of professionalism, impartiality and commitment in future elections.
CODER also wishes to commend the people of Osun State for their impressive participation in the election.
The turnout of over 50 per cent of collected PVCs is encouraging and demonstrates a high level of political consciousness and awareness among the electorate.
The people of Osun State have once again demonstrated that citizens remain central to the survival and consolidation of democracy by turning out to exercise their constitutional right to choose their political leaders.
We particularly commend voters who conducted themselves peacefully and resisted attempts to provoke violence or disrupt the electoral process.
CODER believes that the Osun election provides important lessons for the continuous development of Nigeria's democracy.
Credible elections require the collective commitment of INEC, political parties, candidates, security agencies, civil society organisations, the media and the electorate.
We therefore call on all political parties and candidates to accept the outcome of the election in the spirit of democratic responsibility, while those who may have legitimate grievances should utilise the appropriate legal and constitutional channels for redress.
CODER equally urges INEC to consolidate the gains recorded in the Osun election and address any shortcomings identified during the process.
The Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform believes that the 15 August 2026 Osun Governorship Election represents an encouraging step in the continuous journey towards more transparent, credible, peaceful and participatory elections in Nigeria.
We therefore commend INEC for the noticeable improvements recorded in electoral logistics, deployment, BVAS performance, professionalism, collation, IReV uploading and declaration of results.
Commend the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies for their professional handling of security concerns during the election.
Commend the people of Osun State for their impressive voter participation and peaceful conduct.
Urge all political actors to uphold peace and democratic values and pursue any genuine electoral grievances through lawful means.
Call on INEC to sustain the improvements recorded and continue its reform efforts towards achieving increasingly credible elections in Nigeria.
CODER remains committed to electoral reform, democratic accountability, good governance and the strengthening of Nigeria's democratic institutions.
Signed:
Comrade Michael Popoola Ajayi
Alhassan Adamu
For: Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER)
0 Comments