The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on journalists to partner with the commission in ensuring a peaceful and credible governorship election in Osun State by verifying information before publication and discouraging the spread of misinformation.
The Chairman of INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), made the appeal on Saturday during a media briefing at the end of a five-day readiness assessment tour of the state ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
Amupitan said the commission had concluded its statewide assessment and was fully prepared for the poll, assuring voters that the electoral process would not be undermined by violence, intimidation or logistical shortcomings.
He explained that the readiness tour followed a statewide mock accreditation exercise conducted across selected polling units in the three senatorial districts to evaluate the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
According to him, the exercise confirmed the commission’s technological and operational preparedness, with most voters successfully accredited through facial recognition within seconds, while minor technical issues encountered were promptly resolved by the ICT team.
Describing the mock accreditation as INEC’s quality control mechanism, Amupitan said the outcome demonstrated the reliability of the commission’s technology in preventing identity theft and election manipulation.
To strengthen election-day operations, he disclosed that INEC had increased the number of BVAS devices from 4,427 to 5,130 and doubled backup machines from 664 to 1,328 to ensure uninterrupted accreditation where faults occur.
The INEC chairman said a total of 2,339,233 registered voters are expected to vote across 3,763 polling units in 332 wards within the state’s 30 local government areas, adding that the training of 16,374 ad hoc staff is nearing completion.
He also disclosed that all 14 political parties participating in the election had signed the National Peace Committee’s Peace Accord, while the commission had adopted intelligence-driven security measures through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to safeguard the poll and combat vote buying.
Amupitan further revealed that the commission engaged traditional rulers, including the Ooni of Ife and the Ataoja of Osogbo, who pledged to mobilise residents for peaceful participation, while meetings with transport unions and inspections of local government offices confirmed that non-sensitive election materials had already been deployed.
He urged media practitioners to report responsibly and verify all election-related information to help build public confidence and ensure a peaceful electoral process.
