Security officials largely earned high marks from independent observers at the opening of polls in Sunday’s Osun State gubernatorial election, even as technical failures with the electronic voter-accreditation system and a handful of violent incidents cast shadows over an otherwise calm start to voting, according to a preliminary report released by the CLEEN Foundation.
The Lagos-based police and security watchdog, which has tracked security agency conduct during Nigerian elections for more than 20 years, said its network of trained observers filed reports from polling units spread across 30 local government areas and 37 wards as of 12:00 p.m. Sunday. The findings, the group cautioned, reflect only the polling units where its monitors were stationed rather than a random sample of the entire state.
According to the report, security deployment ahead of voting was timely and well-staffed at most locations monitored. The group found that the vast majority of polling units had three or more officers on hand, and that a notable share of those officers arrived before 7 a.m., ahead of accreditation and voting.
Nearly all officers observed wore visible identification nametags and service numbers, which CLEEN Foundation said was an important accountability measure should misconduct be reported later in the day. Fewer officers, however, were seen carrying visible communication equipment for calling in backup, a gap the group characterised as a minor logistical shortfall rather than a security failure.
Ratings of officer conduct were overwhelmingly favourable. Every report rated officers as approachable, and most described them as impartial. Observers also reported a general sense of safety at every location monitored, with the large majority rating overall security conduct as “good” or “very good” and describing the mood at polling centres as calm and orderly.
CLEEN Foundation said the consistency across these measures suggested the positive impressions were not confined to a few standout locations, though it noted that officer professionalism is often tested more severely later in the day, during vote counting and when fatigue sets in.
Some officers stationed outside the immediate perimeter of polling units were seen visibly armed, which the group described as standard protocol rather than cause for alarm. Observers reported no armed groups or political thugs operating near any monitored polling unit during the reporting window — an early positive sign, according to the foundation, though it warned that risks to voters and observers historically climb later in the process, particularly around collation and results announcements.
A separate incident-tracking log maintained by CLEEN Foundation recorded three reports of election-day violence during the period, originating from Ola Oluwa and Ifelodun local government areas. The most serious involved police firing a tear gas canister into a crowd of voters at a polling unit in Modakeke, in the Ife-East local government area. The foundation said the officer involved had since been apprehended and was being questioned by police leadership. The remaining incidents involved allegations of verbal or physical intimidation without weapons and one report of vote buying.
CLEEN Foundation described the incident reports as preliminary and unverified, and called on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to investigate them urgently, protect voters and observers at the affected sites, and ensure voting could continue without further disruption.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, emerged as a significant source of delay across several local government areas. Observers documented network connectivity problems, facial-recognition failures and fingerprint-authentication errors at polling units in Irepodun, Ilesa East, Ifelodun and Irewole, among other areas. While technicians from the Independent National Electoral Commission responded to some of the malfunctions, the group said the pace and effectiveness of those fixes varied, frustrating voters waiting to cast ballots.
Despite the delays, turnout was described as mixed to strong in many locations, driven by a combination of voter determination and, in some cases, political inducement.
CLEEN Foundation’s polling-unit-level data showed: 94% of monitored units rated overall security conduct “good” or “very good,” with none rated poor, 98% of respondents described the environment around polling centres as “safe” or “very safe,” with no reports of an unsafe environment and the group said units with higher conduct ratings tended to also be rated as more secure, pointing to a link between visible policing, procedural discipline and public confidence.
CLEEN Foundation described its findings as preliminary and said monitoring would continue through the close of polls, with further updates expected as more data comes in, including from the collation and results-announcement stages. The group commended security agencies for their conduct so far and urged continued neutrality and restraint through the rest of the process. #Securitynewsalert.com
