Ahead of the August 15, 2026, governorship election in Osun State, the Independent National Electoral Commission has identified 385 flashpoints and about 200 difficult to access areas across the state as part of efforts to ensure a peaceful and credible poll.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Oluwatoyin Babalola, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the South West, Adegoke Fayoade, in Osogbo. The meeting had in attendance heads of security agencies, religious leaders, electoral officials and media representatives.
Babalola said the commission had completed a comprehensive risk assessment across the state’s 30 local government areas, with the findings already shared with security agencies to strengthen election security.
She said, “We have also conducted risk management training because we are currently in our amber zone. We have field officers who will be in the field for ground truthing to carry out risk assessments in different locations across the 30 local government areas.
“We identified 385 flashpoints in the state, which have been shared with the security agencies. We also identified difficult terrains to guide their operations because there are still places in the state that are not motorable and cannot be easily accessed.”
The REC added that the commission had identified about 200 such difficult terrains and had been training its personnel on how to manage security challenges while maintaining peace during the election.
She further revealed that she had visited 29 of the 30 local government areas, including Ila and Ifedayo, where kidnapping incidents had been reported, noting that security agencies had assured the commission that adequate measures would be in place before, during and after the election.
On logistics, Babalola said INEC had already received about 75 per cent of the materials required for the governorship election, while non statutory materials had been deployed to designated locations.
She expressed confidence in the preparedness of security agencies, saying, “The Commissioner of Police, at all times, along with other security agencies, has been assuring us that we will have a peaceful election. Because if we conduct an election and there is no peace, even if we make the best plans and nobody comes out to vote on election day, it will be an exercise in futility.”
Babalola also appealed to security agencies to intensify efforts to reassure residents ahead of the poll.
“On our part, we are committed to conducting free, fair, credible, inclusive and transparent governorship elections,” she said.
The August 15 governorship election will see the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, seek another term against major challengers, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress and Dr Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress, who is backed by former Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola.
