The Independent National Electoral Commission has pledged to conduct a free, fair, and credible governorship election in Osun State on August 15, 2026, assuring all political parties they would be treated equally under the law and dismissing concerns about the impartiality of the commission’s state leadership as unfounded.
Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner Oluwatoyin Babalola made the pledge during a courtesy visit to the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Osogbo, where she also addressed protests that had greeted her assumption of duty in the state. She clarified that her deployment was a routine administrative posting handled by INEC headquarters in Abuja and that Resident Electoral Commissioners had no role in determining their own postings.
She emphasised that INEC officials did not vote and had no partisan interests in electoral outcomes, describing the commission’s role as ensuring a transparent and credible process for all participants. “INEC officials do not vote. We are not partisan actors. Our duty is to ensure a free, fair, transparent, and credible process,” she said.
In a separate development, Governor Ademola Adeleke’s re-election bid received a wave of endorsements at an event in Osogbo, where traditional security organisations and ethnic groups publicly declared their support for the incumbent ahead of the August 15 poll. Groups represented at the event included the Agbekoya, the Association of Hunters in Osun, and the Odua Peoples Congress, all of whom pledged to vote massively for Adeleke and to actively resist any attempt to manipulate or rig the election.
The governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, simultaneously rejected opposition allegations that the governor had squandered state resources, insisting that all expenditures were verifiable, publicly visible, and conducted within the framework of procurement law and due process.
