#OsunDecides2026: INEC Officials Arrive at 78% of Polling Units by 8:30 a.m. – Yiaga Africa

Election officials arrived at 78 percent of polling units by the scheduled start time of 8:30 a.m. for the Osun State governorship election on Saturday, according to Yiaga Africa, a civil society organization monitoring the polls. The group's observers reported the presence of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials at 251 out of the 300 polling units under their observation.

Yiaga Africa stated that these figures offer an early snapshot of the preparedness and pace of electoral activities across the monitored units. INEC guidelines stipulate that election officials should arrive at their assigned polling units at least one hour before voting commences, meaning they were expected by 7:30 a.m. for this election.

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By 8:30 a.m., INEC officials had arrived at 78% of the 300 polling units where our #WatchingTheVote observers are reporting from.

The organization has deployed observers across Osun State as part of its 'Watching the Vote' (WTV) initiative. These observers are tasked with independently monitoring various aspects of the electoral process, including the arrival of officials and materials, voter accreditation, the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and accessibility at polling stations.

This update follows Yiaga Africa's pre-election assessment, which included inspecting INEC offices. While sensitive election materials had arrived at some local government offices, others, like Ede North, were still sorting materials late on Friday, raising questions about the timely deployment of resources to all polling units.

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This provides an early snapshot of the pace of preparations across the polling units being observed.