The Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) has urged stakeholders to do everything within the law to mitigate electoral risks.
Team Lead of KDI, Bukola Idowu, made the statement yesterday in Abuja at the stakeholders’ presentation of the organisation’s 2026 Osun Election Integrity and Security Assessment titled, ‘Electoral Pressures, Risk Scenarios and Strategic Mitigation Priorities.’
Idowu said election security must begin well before voting through good intelligence, impartial institutions, responsible political conduct, trusted communication, prepared citizens and timely preventive action.
‘This meeting is therefore not simply a report launch. It is a call to turn evidence into coordinated action before risks become incidents and incidents become crises,’ he said.
He said the August 15 election was significant not only because of the choice of governor but because it would be the final major off-cycle governorship election before the 2027 general elections.
According to him, the Osun election would also provide a critical test of important changes in Nigeria’s electoral framework, including election logistics, security coordination, technology, results management, stakeholder compliance and, most importantly, public confidence.
‘What succeeds or fails in Osun will shape preparedness, expectations and reform for the entire country,’ Idowu said.
He said KDI conducted the assessment as a decision-support and early-warning tool, rather than as a prediction of violence or an indictment of any community, political party or institution.
Idowu said the assessment was designed to answer three practical questions: where pressures were building, why specific locations were vulnerable and what each stakeholder could do immediately to reduce the risk of escalation.
The KDI Team Lead also expressed regret and disappointment over Nigeria’s classification as a ‘fully authoritarian regime’ in the Human Rights Foundation’s 2026 Tyranny Tracker.
He said the warning resonated with KDI’s recently launched State of Democratic Performance in Nigeria 2025 report, which assessed democratic practices across all 36 states.
According to him, the report identified pressures on institutional accountability, citizen participation, electoral integrity, civic space and public trust.
‘Democracy is not defended by labels; it is defended by honest diagnosis and sustained reform,’ he said.
He said it drew on a citizen survey of 3,275 respondents across all 30 local government areas of Osun State.
The assessment also involved 15 key informant interviews covering political actors, security agencies, traditional institutions, women and youth leaders, civil society organisations, the media and electoral stakeholders.
Other sources of evidence included continuous incident monitoring from October 2025 to August 2026, monitoring of print, broadcast, online and social media, a multi-stakeholder validation process, field observation and secondary research.
He said the assessment was intended to combine grassroots knowledge with rigorous data and bring citizens, institutions and decision-makers into the same problem-solving space.
Idowu said the significance of the Osun election extended beyond the immediate contest, stressing that its outcome and conduct would provide lessons for Nigeria’s preparations, expectations and electoral reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections.