Reported by Weng Patrick Atokor | Journalist at Weng Global
The recently concluded Osun State governorship election benefited from intense political competition and improvements in electoral technology deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, according to the Athena Election Observatory.
The observatory, an independent electoral integrity initiative established by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, said the combination of strong political mobilisation and technological safeguards made large-scale manipulation of the August 15, 2026, election more difficult.
In its preliminary assessment released on Monday, the group said the presence of well-organised political parties, party agents and competing political interests created an additional layer of scrutiny across the electoral process.
According to the observatory, political competition can serve as an important safeguard when competing parties have sufficient capacity to deploy agents, understand electoral procedures and independently monitor results.
“Organised political competition is itself an important safeguard for electoral integrity,” the group said, noting that manipulation becomes more difficult when several political camps have the ability to detect and challenge irregularities.
Larger electorate changed the dynamics
The Athena Election Observatory also drew attention to the growth of Osun’s electorate since the 2022 governorship election.
It said registered voters increased from 1,952,387 in 2022 to 2,339,544 in 2026, representing a 19.8 per cent increase.
Accredited voters also rose from 827,218 in 2022 to 1,010,684 in 2026, while total votes cast increased from 823,124 to 1,005,800.
Despite the increase in the number of voters, the accreditation rate remained relatively stable. The observatory put the rate at 43.20 per cent in 2026, compared with 42.37 per cent in 2022.
The group argued that the combination of a larger electorate and intense political mobilisation could reduce the effectiveness of small-scale voter manipulation because influencing larger numbers of voters would require greater resources.
Both major political camps also recorded higher vote totals compared with the previous governorship election.
The observatory said Ademola Adeleke’s vote total increased from 403,371 in 2022 to 511,067 in 2026, while the APC’s Bola Oyebamiji recorded 444,815 votes.
The declared margin between the two leading candidates also increased from 28,344 votes in 2022 to 66,252 votes in 2026, according to the assessment.
Technology provided additional safeguards
Beyond political competition, the observatory identified electoral technology as another significant factor in the conduct of the poll.
It highlighted the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, the uploading of polling-unit results to the INEC Result Viewing portal and the use of structured digital data entries.
These measures, the group said, contributed to the creation of a more transparent and auditable trail of electoral information.
The use of technology has become increasingly important in Nigeria’s elections because it provides mechanisms through which accreditation and polling-unit results can be documented and independently examined.
However, the observatory cautioned that technology alone cannot guarantee electoral integrity.
It identified delays in uploading results, the need for clearer public transmission timelines, system resilience and the reconciliation of different digital records as areas requiring further improvement.
The concerns are significant because Nigeria’s increasing reliance on digital electoral systems has also created new cybersecurity and infrastructure challenges. Previous election assessments have highlighted the importance of strengthening digital systems as electoral processes become more technology-dependent.
Integrity requires continued scrutiny
The Athena Election Observatory stressed that the declaration of a winner should not bring independent scrutiny of an election to an end.
It said it would proceed with a more comprehensive post-election audit designed to examine the reliability of the electoral chain from polling units through collation to the final declaration.
The group said its objective was not to determine which candidate should have won, but to assess how resilient, transparent and accurate the process was.
This approach places attention on the broader institutional health of Nigeria’s electoral system rather than solely on the political outcome of an individual election.
The observatory’s position also underscores the importance of maintaining election records that can be independently reviewed after voting has ended.
Lessons for future elections
The Osun election provides several lessons for Nigeria’s future electoral contests.
First, competitive political parties can strengthen oversight when they have the capacity to monitor polling units and independently track results.
Second, technology can improve transparency when systems are reliable, accessible and supported by clear procedures.
Third, electoral technology must be accompanied by institutional safeguards, cybersecurity measures and transparent auditing mechanisms.
Finally, independent post-election reviews remain important because problems may not always become visible during voting or immediately after results are announced.
As Nigeria prepares for future elections, the experience in Osun could therefore contribute to the wider discussion about how political competition, technology, independent observation and institutional accountability can work together to strengthen public confidence in elections.
The Athena Election Observatory’s preliminary assessment does not suggest that every challenge surrounding the Osun election has been resolved. Rather, it presents political competition and technological improvements as important safeguards while identifying areas where INEC and other electoral stakeholders can still improve.
For Nigerian democracy, the key lesson is that credible elections require more than the announcement of results. They require systems that allow citizens, political parties, observers and institutions to follow the process, examine the evidence and hold electoral authorities accountable.
The observatory’s planned post-election audit will therefore be closely watched as it seeks to determine how effectively the digital and physical components of the Osun electoral process worked together.
Sources: Punch Newspapers; Athena Election Observatory preliminary assessment; INEC-related election technology records; International Republican Institute/National Democratic Institute election observation materials.
