OSUN DECIDES: Civil Society Situation Room Urges INEC Neutrality, Impartial Security

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has demanded an impartial security action and risk-based deployment to 385 identified election flashpoints across Osun State for tomorrow’s governorship election.

In its preliminary statement issued in Osogbo on Friday, August 14, the Situation Room said the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies must demonstrate political neutrality and enforce the law without fear or favour.

The statement, signed by

warned that arrests, investigations and prosecutions must be based on credible evidence and not on political affiliation.

The CSO coalition also called for security to be risk-based and intelligence-led, noting that the identification of 385 flashpoints by the Independent National Electoral Commission and 13 out of 30 LGAs as “critical and high violence-risk areas” by Kimpact Development Initiative and CLEEN Foundation should translate into concrete deployment and contingency plans.

It urged adequate personnel for high-risk locations while avoiding excessive militarisation.

“Security agencies must resist being drawn into partisan political contests. Any perception that security institutions are being deployed selectively against particular political parties or candidates will undermine public confidence and could trigger further violence,” the group stated.

The Situation Room also called on political parties and candidates to take responsibility for the political environment by stopping “inflammatory rhetoric, threats, incitement and the circulation of unverified information, stressing that leaders must publicly instruct supporters to reject violence.

The group further “urged INEC to maintain transparency on the security of election materials and any changes to polling locations, and demanded that the rights of voters, especially women, persons with disabilities and the elderly, be protected.”

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The Situation Room noted that the Osun poll is the last major election before 2027 and will serve as a litmus test for INEC preparations.

It said, “While it welcomes the IGP’s warning to political actors, such assurances must now be translated into visible, impartial and preventive action.”