Osun 2026: NPC Places Osogbo, Irewole on Election Violence Watchlist

The National Peace Committee (NPC), through its secretariat, The Kukah Centre, on Friday identified 15 local government areas in Osun State as potential flashpoints for election-related violence ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

The committee, which unveiled the findings of its Political and Security Context Analysis during a bilateral stakeholders’ engagement in Osogbo, classified the affected councils into critical, high and moderate risk categories.

The engagement, supported by the European Union under the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria programme, was attended by representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), security agencies and other stakeholders.

According to the report, organised political violence, institutional tensions, electoral offences and information disorder remain major threats capable of undermining a peaceful electoral process if not adequately addressed.

Speaking after presenting the report, the Project Manager of The Kukah Centre, Asabe Ndahi, identified Osogbo and Irewole as the most vulnerable local government areas, while Boripe, Ife East, Iwo and Ife Central also ranked among the high-risk councils.

She explained that the findings were presented to security agencies and other stakeholders to enable them strengthen preventive measures before election day.

Ndahi said, “We are here to present to them the report of findings from our Election Security Information Hub which is domiciled at the Kukah Centre, Abuja, and get feedback from them on what they will be doing as we progress into the election.

“I give you example, base on data we have, we have about 15 local government that are between critical, high and moderate risk. Particularly, the Osogbo local government and Irewole they fall within critical risk index. In the last six weeks we have deployed field observers who are gathering data for us on security incident in Osun State, so the risk index for Osogbo and Irewole are high.

“We have the other high risk local government like Iwo, Boripe, Ife Central, Ife East, all of these places, we have been able to track and see that we have critical flashpoints ahead of the election. So we are discussing with the security agencies to be able to see how to curtail or reduce the incident as we progress into the election to make sure that the election day is safe for the people to come out and vote.”

Stakeholders at the meeting pledged their commitment to peaceful elections after reviewing the report and discussing the identified risks.

They also urged political parties, supporters and residents of the state to shun violence, respect democratic values and ensure that campaigns and other electoral activities are conducted peacefully throughout the election period.

Earlier, The Kukah Centre had trained 45 field observers to monitor election security and compliance ahead of the governorship election.

Addressing journalists during the training in Osogbo, the Centre’s Project Manager, Vicham Hajara Waziri, said the observers were selected from all 30 local government areas of the state.

She said those assigned to local government areas classified as high-risk would be deployed in larger numbers to strengthen monitoring and reporting.

Waziri said, “Those recruited as field observers were drawn from the 30 local government areas in the state.”

She added, “The LGAs that have been identified as high risks will have more than one field observers,” noting that, “the centre expected that after the workshop, the trainees will be able to report on specific issues bordering on election security.”

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