Osun poll: INEC maps flashpoints, steps up security deployment
August 11, 2026 11:48 am
Police Officer. Credit: Stock photo
The Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Independent National Electoral Commission, Victoria Eta-Messi, has disclosed that the commission, in conjunction with security agencies, has intensified the security of voters at the various polling units in Osun State, as she noted that potential flashpoints have been identified at these centres.
She noted that while the pre-election atmosphere is tense in the state, the commission has intensified efforts to curb vote trading, as she severely warned against voter card theft.
Eta-Messi addressed these concerns during her interview on Arise TV’s ‘Prime Time’ show on Monday.
“Osun is tense. I don’t think it’s what citizens were expecting. There is a lot of desperation in the land. With regards to the vote trading, INEC is doing a lot, and we’re not resting on our oars. We’re engaging. During the Honourable Chairman’s readiness visit, he met with traditional rulers and sent a message to them to speak to their wards and their subjects. We have spoken to Osun mothers to speak to their children, because at the end of the day, it is the youth, basically, most of the time, that engage or are tools or victims of vote trading.
“The volatile or vulnerable areas, as I mentioned earlier, have already been mapped, and there will be more security deployed to those areas. There are potential flashpoints, and so the commission is aware of that. The commission has drawn up its plan with the security architecture to ensure that adequate security is deployed. The military is on the ground to give the back-end and outer-ring support in areas where we suspect that there may be an outbreak of violence.
“Basically, plans have been put in place to protect people in those areas which have been mapped out to ensure that their lives and properties of the commission are safe, and that people feel safe to come out to vote.
“So there will be adequate security in those areas where there is a potential fear of outbreak of violence. The security will be on the ground to do their job. You mentioned earlier that INEC is not the police, and that is true. We cannot arrest,” she stated.
The INEC executive commended the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security and other security agencies for their collaboration to curb violence, saying volatile centres have been mapped, prompting the deployment of security operatives to safeguard the voters.
“Let me start with the ICCES, that’s the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security. They are doing a lot. You have the commission and the Nigeria Police Force as lead agencies under the ICCES structure. The NSA is the co-chair at the national level, but at the state level, you have the Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Commissioner of Police.
“They have done a lot of security planning and coordination, risk mapping, noting again that Osun, as I mentioned earlier, is tense, and the environment is volatile. Some areas are volatile, so those areas have been mapped, and that would guide planning, coordination and deployment of security to those areas that actually require more protection to ensure that citizens do not feel threatened when they turn out to vote. So you have the risk mapping, and you have the deployment which is guided by the outcome of the risk mapping that has been done, so that citizens will feel safe to turn out, participate and exercise their democratic franchise,” she assured.
On the heels of reported stolen PVCs in Ife Central and Odo-Otin Local Government Areas of the state, she revealed that a stolen Permanent Voter Card can’t be used in casting votes, noting that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System captures the biometric details of the voters.
She said, “You cannot use a stolen PVC. Recall that accreditation using the BVAS requires your facial or biometric capture. So whether you come with my PVC or not, you’re just wasting your time. The most you can do is to frustrate the owner of that card. What the commission has now done for those whose cards were carted away in those two local government areas—Ife Central and Odo Otin—the commission has printed replacement cards for them to use, and those cards have been noted.
“So if you come with a stolen card, those cards have already been noted at the back end, and whoever came with them or comes with them will just be wasting his time and is liable to be arrested by the police, because we know those cards that were carted away. The cards have been replaced. So even if you brought it and we’re not taking any action, you cannot vote with somebody else’s card. So it’s just a waste of time.”
Eta-Messi recalled that the commission’s Chairman, Joseph Amupitan, visited the state where he engaged with traditional rulers and representatives of several political parties.
She said, “For us, we have done several layers of engagements with critical stakeholders. Recently, the Honourable Chairman of the Commission was in Osun State with his management team and other senior commission members to further engage with them. They were there for the signing of the Peace Accord, where all these political parties participated. There was rigor integrity tests conducted on our technological devices.
“The mock accreditation was also conducted on the last day of the readiness visit, basically just to be sure. And then there was engagement and meetings with members of the transport unions, who play a critical role with regards to ensuring that men and materials are taken to the polling units on time so that elections can commence as and when due. We had meetings with the security architecture in the state—the ICCES—which plays a critical role with regards to ensuring that men and materials again are safe. Like I mentioned earlier, Osun is actually tense at the moment, and so a lot relies on the shoulders of the security personnel, particularly the police, which is the lead agency, to ensure that citizens of Osun State feel safe to turn out to vote on election day,” she said.
Ajisafe is a multimedia journalist and digital copy editor with over four years experience
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