EIE Nigeria Wants INEC to Address Electoral Gaps Before 2027, Drawing Lessons from Osun Poll
Following its citizen observation of the August 15 Osun State Governorship Election, Enough is Enough (EIE), a Nigerian civic organisation that promotes good governance, civic education and public...
Following its citizen observation of the August 15 Osun State Governorship Election, Enough is Enough (EIE), a Nigerian civic organisation that promotes good governance, civic education and public accountability, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review and strengthen its electoral systems ahead of the 2027 General Elections.
A document signed by EIE Nigeria’s Executive Director, Ufuoma Nnamdi-Udeh, said the organisation’s report on the Osun State off-cycle election identified shortcomings in election-day preparedness, technology deployment and performance, accessibility, voter protection, security coordination and the handling of citizen complaints.
EIE stressed that its election assessment findings are not meant to challenge the Osun State election outcome or repeat what other observer organisations have said, and it will send an advocacy memo to the Commission that looks at what Nigeria’s recent off-cycle elections show about how INEC’s existing electoral systems are working.
According to the organisation, the memo draws on four complementary sources of evidence from EIE’s work across the 2026 electoral cycle through its engagement across 19 citizen activations in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States, in which the campaign reached more than 700,000 young Nigerians and supported approximately 4,300 completed voter registrations, alongside continued support through our Call Centre and community WhatsApp networks.
The activity also focused on the RSVP voter education and mobilisation campaign, stakeholder engagements, and off-cycle Governorship Election observations in Ekiti and Osun States to examine whether INEC’s existing systems worked as intended when citizens encountered problems during the election.
EIE noted that it deployed trained citizen observers across 12 Local Government Areas, with four accredited EIE staff participating through the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room. The observation generated 532 polling-unit-level reports covering election readiness, accreditation, voting, technology, security, ballot secrecy, accessibility and counting.
The organisation said most polling units it monitored were peaceful and orderly, but recurring issues require institutional review before the 2027 elections. These included the late arrival of election officials, materials and security personnel; BVAS and other technology failures; accessibility gaps; threats to ballot secrecy; voter intimidation; and alleged vote buying.
Although it said its results were not statistically representative of all polling places in Osun State and did not prove that any specific irregularity affected the election’s outcome, it claimed that the results showed field-level evidence of the challenges some voters faced and provided a chance to assess how INEC’s current systems reacted.
Additionally, EIE reported that it watched the Ekiti State off-cycle governorship election earlier in the year and continued to interact with pertinent stakeholders on matters pertaining to citizens’ involvement in the electoral process. These activities included monitoring how the electoral commission conducted the poll and issues such as accreditation, ensuring that citizens cast their ballots freely and privately, received assistance when needed, and were protected from intimidation.
In its observation of the Osun election, EIE raised concerns about shortcomings and underperformance by INEC. On the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), EIE said its observers reported BVAS-related problems in seven of the 12 Local Government Areas they covered, including devices that failed to start, accreditation interruptions, slow processing and difficulty capturing the facial data of elderly voters.
The organisation said such incidents should be examined not merely as isolated election-day failures but as information that could improve future technology testing, training and deployment.
“However, our observers also documented recurring challenges, including the delayed arrival of election officials, materials and security personnel; BVAS and other technology failures; accessibility gaps; threats to ballot secrecy; voter intimidation; and alleged vote buying. These findings are not statistically representative of every polling unit in Osun State and do not establish that any particular irregularity determined the outcome of the election. They provide, however, specific field-level evidence of where citizens encountered difficulties during an election in which INEC’s existing systems and safeguards were intended to operate.
“In parts of Osogbo, Ife Central and Olorunda, EIE observers reported polling units where election officials, materials or security personnel arrived after voting was scheduled to begin. BVAS-related problems were reported in seven of the 12 Local Government Areas observed, including devices failing to start, interruptions during accreditation, slow processing and difficulty capturing the facial data of elderly voters, it reads.
EIE acknowledged the opportunity for INEC; its Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) intended to monitor electoral processes, identify risks and support early response. “The Commission operates the INEC Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) to receive enquiries, complaints and incident reports. It has also established procedures for election technology, accessibility, observer participation, and election security coordination.”
However, the report also identified some bottlenecks in the accessibility of some voting points, electoral violence, vote buying and some other electoral malpractices.
“In Olorunda and Ejigbo, observers documented accessibility challenges, including physically inaccessible polling locations and instances where EC40H forms were unavailable to voters requiring assistance.
“Observers also documented Incidents involving threats to ballot secrecy and voter Intimidation. In Atakumosa West, voters were reportedly assaulted while police and NSCDC personnel were present. In contrast, observers documented an instance in Olorunda where security personnel responded promptly to a comparable threat.
“EIE also recorded alleged vote buying in five of the 12 Local Government Areas observed. These reports should not be treated as established criminal findings without investigation, but they raise questions about how electoral offence reports are documented, referred, and followed up on.
Having noted these, the civic organisation noted that the incidents were meant to be an opportunity to examine what happened after each problem was identified, how the response fell short, and what can change before the 2027 election.
“If a BVAS failed, if a polling unit opened late, if a voter could not access a polling location or was intimidated while trying to vote, we need to know why it happened and what will be done differently before 2027. These are not just election-day incidents; they are signals of where existing systems need to work better for citizens.”
As a result, EIE recommended that the electoral commission must treat the Osun election as an opportunity for an evidence-based review of how its existing electoral systems performed in practice.
It also urged INEC to “review election-day readiness and response. Examine reports of delayed opening and deployment against EMSC and operational data to determine whether these risks were identified, what response was triggered and where the response chain broke down.
“Turn technology failures into deployment lessons. Conduct a structured review of BVAS and related technology failures reported in Osun and feed recurring failure modes into future testing, training and deployment planning.
“Make citizen complaints part of institutional learning. Review complaints and incident reports received through existing INEC channels during the election, identify recurring issues and, where appropriate, communicate the corrective measures arising from them. Close the gap between accessibility commitments and voter experience. Review the implementation of INEC’s existing accessibility framework against what was documented at polling units and address identified gaps in logistics, polling unit preparation and training before 2027.
“Strengthen voter protection and security coordination. Use the intimidation, violence, and ballot secrecy. Incidents documented in Osun to inform election-day procedures, security coordination, and training ahead of 2027.
“Create a stronger feedback loop with accredited observers. Ensure that credible findings from accredited observer organisations can be considered alongside INEC’s own data in post-election reviews and future election preparation.
“The work of strengthening democracy cannot stop when the votes have been counted, and a winner has been declared. INEC already has systems for election readiness, technology, citizen complaints, accessibility, observer engagement, and election security. The opportunity now is to examine where those systems worked, where they did not, and what needs to change. We want the lessons from Ekiti and Osun to become Improvements citizens can experience in 2027,” it concluded.
No Comment! Be the first one.