Yiaga Africa has credited electoral technology and active citizen participation with strengthening transparency in the 2026 Osun State governorship election.
The organisation said the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), electronic transmission of results and voter vigilance helped safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
Yiaga Africa made the assessment in its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) statement released on Sunday, following the August 15 governorship election.
The organisation based its findings on reports from 289 of the 300 sampled polling units, representing 96 per cent of its sample across the state’s 30 Local Government Areas.
It deployed 300 stationary observers, 32 mobile observers and 30 LGA results-collation observers to monitor polling-unit activities, counting, collation and results transmission.
According to Yiaga Africa, the election provided an important test of electoral preparedness as the last major governorship election before the 2027 general elections and one of the earliest major tests of the Electoral Act 2026 and the new regulatory framework for election administration and results management.
It said the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies largely met expected standards.
Yiaga Africa said electoral technology played an important role in strengthening transparency during the election, although it identified some gaps in implementation.
The organisation observed that BVAS functioned properly in 80 per cent of the polling units it monitored, while malfunctions occurred in 20 per cent but were subsequently resolved.
“The widespread technological breakdowns feared following challenges observed during the mock accreditation did not materialize at a scale capable of undermining the election,” Yiaga Africa said.
It, however, reported cases in which BVAS failed to authenticate the fingerprints or facial biometrics of some voters, particularly elderly voters.
According to the organisation, 11 per cent of polling units recorded cases where voters whose Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) had been successfully verified were denied accreditation because BVAS could not authenticate their fingerprints or facial biometrics.
Yiaga Africa also observed the use of downloadable PVCs following the introduction of the provision under the Electoral Act 2026.
It said voters presented downloadable PVCs in 23 per cent of the polling units observed. While most voters who presented the downloadable PVCs were accredited, observers reported that some were denied accreditation in seven per cent of the affected polling units.
The organisation said it received a verified report from one sampled polling unit where all voters who presented downloadable PVCs were denied accreditation.
On electronic results transmission, Yiaga Africa said the scanning and publication of polling-unit results through the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) strengthened public scrutiny of the results process.
It reported that presiding officers used BVAS to scan or take snapshots of Form EC8A and transmit the results to IReV in 85 per cent of the polling units observed.
It also found that 87 per cent of polling units transferred results from validated Form EC8A to the electronic EC8A on BVAS.
“At 99% of polling units, polling officials showed everyone present how every ballot paper was marked,” the organisation said.
It added that officials posted official results for public viewing in 91 per cent of polling units.
However, Yiaga Africa raised concerns over an interruption in the IReV upload process.
It said uploads stalled from 8:48 p.m. to 10 p.m., affecting 3,292 polling-unit results and leaving 471 outstanding before transmission resumed at about 11:50 p.m.
“This prolonged interruption requires a clear explanation from INEC,” Yiaga Africa said.
It added that sustaining public confidence in IReV required not only timely and complete uploads but also proactive disclosure whenever delays occurred.
Beyond technology, Yiaga Africa said citizens played a significant role in protecting the integrity of the election.
The organisation said voters turned out despite concerns generated by attacks on PVC collection centres, politically linked violence, disputes over motor parks and inflammatory rhetoric during the pre-election period.
It estimated voter turnout at between 42.5 per cent and 44.8 per cent, compared with INEC’s official turnout figure of 43 per cent.
“Voters also did not stop at casting the ballot,” Yiaga Africa said.
According to the organisation, voters remained at polling units to witness the sorting, counting and announcement of results and followed the results to ward and LGA collation centres.
“That vigilance is the most effective deterrent to result manipulation,” it said.
Yiaga Africa, however, stressed that citizens should not be required to continuously monitor electoral institutions to protect the integrity of elections.
“It does not, however, relieve INEC and the security agencies of their duty to protect the vote; citizens should not have to stand guard over an institution’s integrity,” the organisation said.
Its independent statistical analysis also found that INEC’s official results were consistent with its PRVT estimates.
Based on reports from 96 per cent of its sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa estimated that the Accord Party would secure between 50.3 per cent and 54 per cent of the vote.
It estimated that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) would receive between 1.4 per cent and 2.1 per cent, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) would receive between 43 per cent and 46.8 per cent.
INEC’s official results put Accord at 51.9 per cent, ADC at 1.7 per cent and APC at 45.2 per cent.
Yiaga Africa said the official results fell within its estimated ranges.
“The consistency of the results therefore speaks specifically to the accuracy of the tabulation of polling-unit results,” it said.
The organisation, however, warned that reports of vote buying and voter inducement raised concerns about the integrity of voters’ choices.
It stressed that the consistency between its estimates and INEC’s official results demonstrated that polling-unit results were accurately reflected in the final figures, but did not eliminate concerns about voter inducement.
Yiaga Africa also credited INEC with improving election-day logistics despite the last-minute, court-ordered inclusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which forced the commission to reprint ballot papers and result sheets shortly before the election.
It said 48 per cent of polling units had commenced accreditation and voting by 8:30 a.m., while the figure rose to 96 per cent by 9:30 a.m.
The organisation said the figures compared favourably with its observations during the 2022 Osun governorship election, when 41 per cent of polling units had commenced accreditation and voting by 8:30 a.m. and 96 per cent by 9:30 a.m.
However, it documented some operational challenges.
At one polling unit in Osogbo, for instance, the voter register was initially mixed up with materials meant for another polling unit.
Yiaga Africa said officials contacted the INEC office and resolved the problem, although the incident delayed voting until after 11 a.m.
The organisation also said security personnel largely demonstrated restraint during the election despite the tense political environment preceding the poll.
“The election demonstrated that robust security deployment need not translate into excessive interference in the electoral process,” Yiaga Africa said.
It urged security agencies to sustain neutrality and strengthen enforcement against vote buying, intimidation and electoral violence.
It also called on security agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to extend enforcement beyond polling units to surrounding areas where voter inducement takes place.
Yiaga Africa said the Osun election demonstrated that INEC could meet a high operational standard when adequately resourced and closely monitored.
“Osun demonstrates that INEC can meet a high operational standard, apply the Electoral Act 2026 and transmit results transparently when the election is well resourced and closely watched,” it said.
The organisation, however, said INEC must replicate the performance across Nigeria’s 176,000 polling units and 36 states during the 2027 general elections.
It urged the commission to strengthen quality assurance for sensitive election materials, resolve inconsistencies in voter data, standardise the implementation of downloadable PVCs and improve the resilience and transparency of IReV.
Yiaga Africa also called for a comprehensive post-election technical audit of BVAS devices and urged INEC to publish the causes of biometric authentication failures and the remedial measures it would adopt ahead of 2027.
It further urged INEC to improve the training and supervision of ad hoc election officials.
For security agencies, the organisation recommended stronger enforcement against vote buying, intimidation and electoral violence, while political parties should train their polling agents on the Electoral Act 2026, INEC regulations and voter education.
Yiaga Africa said it would release a comprehensive report containing additional data and recommendations as it begins its national deployment ahead of the 2027 general elections.