INEC Osun State Launches Preparations for 2026 Governorship. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State today conducted an Expanded Stakeholders Engagement, bringing together political parties, civil society groups, security agencies, religious leaders, and journalists to discuss the state's upcoming election process.

Dr. Mutiu Olaleke Agboke, Resident Electoral Commissioner, revealed in his address that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) process will begin on Monday, August 18, 2025, for online registration, with physical registration beginning on August 25th.  This, he observed, will officially kick-start operations towards the 2026 Osun Governorship Election.  As part of the preparations, official election notices have already been posted in all 30 Local Government INEC offices across the state.

The Hon. REC further revealed that, according to the timetable released by INEC headquarters, the conduct of party primaries is scheduled to begin on 24th November 2025.

He provided key statistics on the state’s voter register, stating that Osun currently has 1,954,809 registered voters, out of which 1,594,006 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been collected, leaving 360,794 PVCs uncollected. The state comprises 332 Registration Areas/Electoral Wards and 3,763 Polling Units.

He encouraged prospective registrants and eligible voters to begin their registration process by visiting www.cvr.inecnigeria.org to supply necessary personal information before proceeding to designated registration centres.

The engagement provided an opportunity for stakeholders to exchange ideas, raise concerns, and reaffirm their commitment to a credible, inclusive, and peaceful electoral process in Osun State.


Read below;

TEXT OF ADDRESS BY DR MUTIU AGBOKE, THE RESIDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) OSUN STATE, AT THE EXPANDED STAKEHOLDERS’ ENGAGEMENT HELD AT OLUSEGUN AGBAJE MEDIA CENTRE, INEC OFFICE OSOGBO, OSUN STATE TODAY WEDNESDAY 13TH AUGUST, 2025. 

The Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command
The Heads of other Security Agencies here present
State Director National Orientation Agency, Osun state
The State Chairman Inter Party Advisory Council, Osun State
The Administrative Secretary INEC Osun State
Heads of Departments of INEC Osun State
Electoral Officers, INEC Osun State
Representative of Political Parties 
Representative of Religious Institutions 
Members of the Civil Society organizations 
Members of the people Living with Disabilities 
Members of the fourth Estate of the Realm
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen 
On behalf of the entire management of Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Osun State, you are all welcome to this very historic expanded stakeholder’s meeting/ engagement. It is expanded because we are bringing together major stakeholders in the electioneering process in Osun State, namely:
a. Political parties
 b. Security agencies
 3. The Media
 4. The Civil Society Organizations
5. The religious organisations and
6. People with disabilities. All of us here in this hall are making history, not just for ourselves, but for the entire sons and daughters of Osun state, who are eligible voters and political actors. We thank God Almighty for keeping this day for us all and to be alive as active participants. We must all keep the positive spirit of achieving the success together as well. We must not let ourselves down in any manner. 

Today’s event is to address two major issues in the political activities of Osun State. First is to address the issue of the continuous voter registration, which will commence soon. The second is to kick start the process of the 2026 Governorship Election in Osun State with the pasting of official Notice of Election in all the 30 local government offices of INEC in Osun state, including the Area office at Modakeke.

You will all recall that the headquarters of the commission on the 27th day of May, 2025 released the time table and the schedule of activities for the 2026 Governorship Election for Osun State. Let me inform you now that as we speak, the notice of the 2026 Governorship Election for Osun State has been duly posted in all the 30 local government offices including the Area office at Modakeke. With this notice, all activities that will culminate into the 2026 Governorship election in Osun State has commenced. 

Going by the time table released by the headquarters of the commission, the conduct of party primaries including resolution of disputes arising from the primaries will start on the 24th day of November, 2025 and end on the 15th day of December, 2025. This is necessary to enable political parties democratically nominate candidates for the election as required by section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022. The submission of forms EC9 ( personal particulars of candidates) and EC9B (Names/list of nominated candidates) online at the nomination portal of the commission at 9am on the 15th day of January, 2026 to 6pm on the 9th February 2026. Access code for the submission of nomination forms shall be available for collection on 15th December, 2025 at headquarters of the commission. I implore all the political parties and other stakeholders to follow the timetable for the 2026 Governorship Election for Osun State with a view to tracking the various activities contained therein. Copies of the timetable shall be made available to the political parties at this meeting in a short while. The 2026 Governorship election shall be conducted on the 8th day of August,2026. 
Let me at this juncture provide you with the current electoral statistics of Osun state as contained in the commission’s database as at 31st day of July, 2025. 

Number of registered voters - 1, 954,800
Number of permanent voter cards (PVCs) collected - 1, 594,006
Number of Uncollected PVCs - 360,794
Number of Registration Areas/Electoral Wards - 332
Number of Polling Units - 3763
INEC has announced the commencement of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) throughout Nigeria. The CVR will start on the 18th day of August, 2025 with online registration. By this, the prospective registrant will visit www.cvr.inecnigeria.org to supply necessary information about himself or herself. Thereafter, he or she will generate a slip to take to INEC local government office within his place of residence. Later on the 25th of August,2025, the registrant will visit the local government office for his or her biometrics i.e the fingerprint and the facials. This completes the online registration. I must note specially here that anyone who completes the online forms without the biometrics has not completed the process of registration. He or she must ensure a visit to INEC local government office in his area. Similarly, apart from the biometrics on the 25th August, 2025, any prospective registrant has the opportunity to go to the local government offices of INEC for a physical registration. By this and without using online facility, the prospective registrant can come to any of the local government offices of INEC in Osun State  for his or her registration. This will be done seamlessly without any difficulty at NO COST. The following people are eligible to register:
An adult who has never registered before - fresh registration 
A child who has attained the age of 18yrs or more - fresh registration 
A voter who has lost his permanent voter card - replacement 
A voter whose PVC had been defaced - replacement 
A voter whose PVC has been lost - transfer. 
A critical examination of the above statistics has shown the large number of PVCs uncollected in Osun state. Concerted efforts are being made with the stakeholders to continue to create the awareness for the electorates, not just to register, but to ensure the collection of the cards. Let me reiterate here that as it stands now, NO PVC. NO VOTING. You are hereby enjoined to collect your PVCs whenever the window of collection opens. 
With respect to the special provisions for persons with disabilities (PWDs), INEC remains committed to an inclusive electoral process in line with the Electoral Act 2022 and the International best practices. For the CVR exercise, we have made provisions to ensure that persons with disabilities are well taken care of in the same manner with persons without disabilities. For the purpose of the upcoming election in Osun state, provisions have been made to ensure that people with disabilities are not disenfranchised. Such provisions include but not limited to 
a. Provision of Braille ballot guide for visually impaired voters.
 b. Provision of magnifying glasses for persons with low vision.
 c. Provision of assistive listening devices for persons with hearing impairment.
 d. Allowing for priority voting queues for the PWDs including the elderly, and pregnant women.

 I implore members of the disability community to indicate their needs during the registration process so that such requests can be harvested and factored into the Election Day arrangements.

To sensitize the eligible registrants in this regard, INEC Osun state has engaged and still engaging in a massive advocacy across the state. We have appeared on different Radio and Television programs. We have visited religious organizations, both Christians and Muslims, we have visited market places, the traditional rulers, civil societies organizations and security agencies. The advocacy is still in progress. I implore Osun residents to come out to register accordingly. While they must come out in large numbers to register, they must prevent their children or wards, who are underage or minor from the registration. If such underage should register and apprehended, such is punishable under the Electoral Act. We all must equally be vigilant to prevent foreigners from participating in the CVR. 

I want to use this medium to thank and appreciate the entire members of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Osun State for the cooperation so far. I thank the chairman for all his support. IPAC must monitor to ensure its members conduct peaceful primaries. IPAC must ensure its members avoid hate speeches during campaign activities. 
I thank my Electoral Officers for their dedication to work. I give kudos to the entire INEC staff Osun state, you are appreciated. I still want to plead with you to do your best in carrying out your statutory responsibilities in the upcoming electoral activities in Osun state. God will strengthen you. 

I equally appreciate all the members of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election security (ICCESS) for all the support to INEC Osun state. ICCESS members are to provide safe environmental atmosphere for registration, campaigns activities and on the  Election day. 

The Civil society organizations and religious communities. I thank you all. You are both expected to  assist the commission to mobilize communities with a view to encouraging peaceful participation in the electoral activities in Osun State. You are also to assist in full scale voter education and civic awareness. 

To the youth and the general public, I implore you to shun violence, refuse to be used as agent of destruction, fake news and other electoral malpractices.

Let me also appeal to political parties and other major stakeholders that the menace of vote buying and violence cannot be ignored in our electioneering processes. We must start the conversations around them in our various meetings and campaign grounds. We must speak the truth about them and against them that they are not healthy for our elections. We must not pretend that all was well with us while violence was  being used to disorganize our elections. Electorate should be educated to eschew vote buying and selling by anyone who may want to trade with their votes. It should be noted that both the violence and vote buying and selling are punishable under the Electorate Act. We must all shun them. Media should help against this cankerworm. Civil society must not keep silent in any manner.

I appeal to you all to rise up to continue to support INEC Osun state so as to deliver a credible election. INEC alone cannot deliver peaceful and successful election. In togetherness we shall all achieve the desired outcome of our election. Let me assure you all here today that INEC shall ensure a credible process in the upcoming 2026 Governorship election. Your vote will count. We shall do the right thing at all times. We shall ensure we do our best to ensure your vote count. 

For the purpose of emphasis, let me state the unwavering commitment of INEC in Osun state to transparency, fairness, and professionalism. We are deploying all available technology for the CVR, that is Inec Voter Enrolment Device (IVED). For our election in Osun state, Bimodal voter Accreditation System (BVAS) shall be deployed. We shall continue to engage with all the stakeholders. We shall update the members of the public of various developments and make available credible information at every stage of our activities. 

I thank you all for your attention. God bless you.