By
Pius Mordi
The popular verdict from the political class on the conduct and outcome of the Osun governorship election of August 15 is that democracy won. The verdict was driven basically by the outcome, that Ademola Adeleke, the incumbent who contested on the platform of the Accord Party, emerged victorious.
It was akin to a winning goal being scored against the run of play. With what emerged as a unilateral action of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which on August 5, 2026, barely 10 days to the poll froze the bank accounts of the state, a subregional government, not many gave Adeleke a chance against an envisaged onslaught. The agency stated that its action was a preventive measure during an ongoing investigation into the alleged fraudulent handling of ₦11 billion in Ecology Intervention, and Federal Allocation funds. Stung by the backlash, President Tinubu faced a decision over two options. It was the devil’s alternative. If he left the EFCC to continue with its action and the APC candidate won, it would be interpreted as the product of state capture. And if he intervened and directs the anti-graft agency to discontinue its action, the inevitable reaction would be that EFCC is, after all, under the direct control of Aso Rock. To his credit, he opted for the later. It was the devil’s alternative, but a much less evil. He expressed deep embarrassment over the timing of the action, noting that it created the false impression that a federal agency is being weaponized to interfere in the election. I believe him. Tinubu ordered the EFCC to return to court and lift the freeze.
However, the thinking that Adeleke’s victory has given the exercise the imprimatur of victory for democracy masks a serious flaw in the build up to the election that actually threatened democracy. As an incumbent in 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan who had control of all instruments and agencies of the election he eventually lost, proclaimed in the period preceding the election that his bid to get re-elected is not worth the life of a single Nigerian. The number of people killed in violence in the days leading to the August 15, 2026, Osun governorship election varies depending on the tracking agency, police data, and political party reports.
By the account of civil society and research trackers, 29 were killed across 73 violent incidents recorded between May and August 2026, according to an integrity and security assessment report.
The Nigeria Police Force documented at least 30 killings classified as politically motivated during the build-up to the election. Omoyele Sowore and his African Action Congress (AAC), claimed that up to 47 people were killed in campaign violence.
Separately, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development’s (CJID) conflict tracker documented 18 deaths across 34 election-related violent incidents. The actual number of fatalities may never be known, but it is incontestable that many lives were lost. Whatever is the real number, it is unacceptable that supporters of the various gladiators had to lose their lives.
The bellicose words used by some of the major political actors was driven by the mentality that inspired the EFCC chairman to embark on an administrative overreach in interpreting the power given it in its enabling act to freeze the accounts it considers to used for nefarous activities. Does its power include clamping down on governance at a subregional level? The Osun State government had duly gone to court to challenge the EFCC. But a combination of Tinubu’s intervention and his victory caused Adeleke to direct his attorney general to discontinue the suit.
I wish he had continued with the suit despite the outcome of the election. The framers of the EFCC Act may not have envisage the situation where the relevant section will be extended to a subregional government. I am not a lawyer, but I believe the agency’s venture was an audacious overreach that would have been struck down by the Supreme Court.
On the eve of the election, all the 31 governors of the APC or their deputies converged in Osun to show solidarity with the party in the state. Ordinarily, there is nothing untoward with other state governors showing support for a party man trying to unseat an incumbent. But entering Osogbo on the eve of the election is inexplicable. They were not voters in Osun State. More remarkably, they were not useful to Bola Oyebamiji, their party’s candidate. They could have been
helpful had they come during the campaigns.
Apparently, their coming to Osogbo was part of the power show, similar to the Police’s “show of force” days to the election when its personnel drove round Osogbo with their APCs, armoured personnel carriers. That changed nothing though. Sorry, that may have changed something. Unfortunately, not in the way it was intended.
Rather than be cowed and intimidated, Osun voters gave the rest of the country the template for protecting their votes. From the polling units to the counting of the votes and collation of results at the council headquarters, Osun people were there with all the agencies associated with the election. That, for me, is the ultimate takeaway from Osun.
