Osun 2026: INEC Urges Politicians To Focus On Issues, Not Personal Attack

The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State, Dr. Mutiu Agboke has expressed concern over the growing trust deficit in Nigeria’s electoral process.

Speaking at the 2024 press week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Osun, Agboke emphasized that the current trend of personal attacks on INEC officials by political stakeholders is counterproductive.

According to him, these stakeholders have shifted their attention from monitoring the electoral process to targeting INEC officials, hoping to influence the outcome of elections.

He stressed that this approach is misguided and urged stakeholders to focus on monitoring the commission’s activities, modalities, and officials conduct instead.

Agboke who called on stakeholders to analyze and address security threats to elections before and during the electoral process promised that INEC will continue to work with security agencies to ensure credible elections.

His words: “In recent time, we discovered that political stakeholders have shifted their attention from the issues they are supposed to monitor, the target is now the officials of the commission and I felt there is no need for all this, unless you see that clearly a particular official has committed an infraction, an infraction that the commission should rise up to.

“The political stakeholders should shift their attention from thinking that they can rubbish officials of the commission, perhaps thinking that by doing that, they will have their way is not the way it should be. When you focus on that, you miss out monitoring the activities, you miss out the monitoring those officials to be able to know whether they are doing the right thing or not.

“All of us should continue to analyze various security threats to our elections, even before the election at all. And our engagement should continue. None of the security agency should back out. We should continue to work together. We should continue to continue to liaise together and INEC will always open the door for them to achieve this.”

Also speaking, Dr Femi Adefila, a renowned broadcast journalist and Chief Executive officer of a popular private radio in Osun, emphasised the need for better scrutiny of the process of choosing leaders in Nigeria.

According to Adefila, vote buying remains a persistent issue in the country’s electoral process, undermining the integrity of democracy.

In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi recommended that INEC conduct fresh registrations every five years to maintain an up-to-date and reliable voters’ register.

Alimi stated that INEC only adds new names every four years, resulting in a register cluttered with deceased individuals.

“I’m stating it clearly and authoritatively today that the register we have today is not the true reflection of the voters’ register. The only solution I will recommend for INEC that every five years let us register afresh then we will know the true actual voters’ register in a particular unit, ward, local government and state levels.”

Earlier, the Osun State NUJ Chairman, Comrade Wasiu Ajadosu said that it is the responsibility of all stakeholders in the country to play their roles to ensure that the election is peaceful, fair and credible.
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