It’s stale news that Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State defeated 14 other candidates to win the just held August 15, 2026 off-cycle governorship election in my state – the State of the Living Spring! This brings to an end the roller coaster of eight off-cycle governorship polls which started in 2023 with Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo, followed by Edo and Ondo in 2024 then came Anambra in 2025 and lastly Ekiti and Osun in 2026. In the lead up to last Saturday’s poll, I have had countless number of media interviews across the print and broadcast stations. Not only that, as a psephologist, I had the good fortune of conducting pre-election assessment for The Kukah Centre in Osun in February this year and returning in April for the validation of our report.
Am happy that the Independent National Electoral Commission was able to conduct a conclusive and successful Osun governorship poll but was the election free, fair and credible? Yes, peoples vote counted in the reelection of the incumbent, but at what cost? Readers, INEC just conducted the most expensive and costliest off-cycle governorship election in Nigeria! How do I mean? Let’s look at the numbers. I mean the financial cost of each of the actors and stakeholders in the election.
Starting with the INEC, the Commission had to print ballot papers and result sheet twice because of the July 22 order of the Federal High Court, Abuja that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, previously rejected, should be enlisted on the ballot paper. This court order came after INEC had already printed all the sensitive materials. Thus, in compliance with the order, it had to discard over two million ballot papers and thousands of result sheet and hasten to reprint them. Luckily, the Commission’s printers are in Nigeria. I think it is high time INEC owns its own printing press rather than outsourcing its printing works. There should also be deadline for adjudication of pre-election matters as it is with post-election litigations.
It is either INEC put all registered political parties’ names and logos on the ballot paper or cusomise by putting those of all contesting parties even if there are litigations on some of the candidates. The cost of reprinting the Osun ballot paper will be very high because it’s an emergency work. However, it’s good INEC obeyed the court order, otherwise, Governor Adeleke’s victory can be nullified by the tribunal on what is know in election management as “lawful nomination and unlawful exclusion”.
It has happened before in 2007 in an FCT senatorial election where Progressive Action Congress challenged INEC for unlawful exclusion in a senatorial election. The five-member Tribunal, headed by Justice Josphine Tukturin October 2007 nullified the election of Sen. Jubrin Wowo of All Nigeria Peoples Party and ordered fresh elections within three months. They said PAC candidate in the election, Isa Ndako, was wrongfully excluded from participating in the election by INEC. It’s interesting to note that ANPP lost the rerun election as the People’s Democratic Party candidate eventually won.
Aside the reprinting issue, considering the recruitment, training and deployment of over 30,000 ad-hoc staff as well as mobilisation of 30 Electoral Officers, 15 Resident Electoral Commissioners and seven National Commissioners to provide supervisory role for the election, the engagement of hundreds of members of National Union of Road Transport Workers to provide transport logistics, the cost of setting up the Registration Area Centre with beddings, water and light; these are at huge cost. Gargantua cost must have also been incurred to conduct Continuous Voters Registration, Printing and Distribution of Permanent Voters Cards, Voters Education and hosting of Stakeholders Meetings.
Let’s go to the political parties and contestants. Huge cost was expended in purchase of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms by aspirants; political parties must have also spent princely sums to organise party primaries to nominate their candidates. In the course of the 150 days of campaigns, billions were expended majorly by the frontline candidates. Governor Adeleke who defected from PDP to Accord party in December 2025 must have spent a lot of resources to turn an obscure political party into a vibrant and competitive brand. There are over 300 Wards in Osun, 30 LGAs and one Area Office, Accord party suddenly in few months rented functional offices in all of these political structures and became a party of reckon with its thumb logo and yellow colour. Definitely it’s not the party members, who are known not to pay membership dues, who funded that in a short while. The governor also has to campaign across all the Wards and Local Governments. For a party without any governor or any high profile elected chieftains, the onus must have been on Governor Adeleke to pick the bills alongside other decampee lawmakers from PDP in Osun State.
The All-Progressives Congress candidate in the election, Asiwaju Bola Oyebamiji better known as AMBO claimed he campaigned thrice around all the Wards in Osun State. He didn’t campaign alone. He has entourage. He must have ‘Nicodemusly’ received hefty donations from President Bola Tinubu and the 276-member Campaign Council headed by Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State. Dr. Deji Adeleke who’s the elder brother to Governor Adeleke claimed in a viral video that he learnt APC must have spent about N60 billion and that the party bought vote to the tune of N50,000 per vote. Music icon, Davido in a media interview on August18, 2026 said he learnt APC spent N110 billion. These are unverified claims though.
It’s important to add to the expenses the cost of deployment of 15,000 police personnel, 30 Commissioners of Police and a Deputy Inspector General of Police; the cost of deploying over 10,000 Nigerian Civil Defence personnel and other security agencies. Not only that, there is need to compute the expenses of Non-Governmental Organisations who deployed thousands of accredited observers. We must not forget to compute the cost incurred by media organisations who organised Town Hall meetings and deployed accredited journalists to cover the elections without government support. Lastly, what about cost of litigation in pre-election matters? If any of the 15 contestants decide to go to election tribunal, we would also have to include that cost too. Sincerely, it will be difficult to put a particular figure to how much was spent by actors and stakeholders on Osun governorship election.
Huge as I have highlighted above, the financial cost of Osun guber election pales into insignificance when compared to the cost of over thirty lives that were lost to the pre-election violence in the state. It’s heart breaking and preposterous that such number of fatalities was recorded in a power tussle to purportedly ‘serve’ the people. Many relationships – family ties and friendships have been strained or broken as a result of this election as members of the same family supported different candidates and makes enemies of one another; which should not be so. The financial, social and political cost of last Saturday’s election in Osun is unbearable and not sustainable. It’s time for introspection!
I.G: @jideojong
