Why I’m Not Carried Away By Osun Election Result — Atedo Peterside

Founder of the GoNigeria Initiative, a civic engagement platform backed by the ANAP Foundation, Atedo Peterside has given insight into why he is not carried away by the outcome of the 2026 Osun State governorship election, which was won by incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke.

Peterside said the major lesson from the election was the importance of high voter turnout in preventing electoral malpractice, noting that the 43.4 per cent turnout recorded in Osun State was high by recent Nigerian standards.

In a post on his X handle on Sunday, Peterside said, “Some of us refuse to get carried away by the #OsunGuber2026 Election result.

“The only thing it really proves is that a large voter turnout (43.4% in Osun is high by recent Nigerian standards) is the best antidote to rigging and that we must all join hands to hold @inecnigeria’s ‘feet to the fire.’”

He, however, raised concerns over the incomplete uploading of election results on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV), saying the commission still had questions to answer.

According to Peterside, as of 8:50 a.m. on Sunday, the day after the election, 98.35 per cent of the results had been uploaded to the IREV instead of the expected 100 per cent.

“As at 8.50am on the day after the elections (today), INEC’s IREV had 98.35% of the results uploaded instead of 100%,” he said.

Peterside said INEC should explain why results from 62 polling units out of the 3,763 polling units in the state had not been uploaded.

“INEC must still explain why they have NOT uploaded the results from 62 Polling Units out of 3,763 Polling Units i.e. notwithstanding the fact that those results are now largely inconsequential because Governor @AAdeleke_01 has already won,” he said.

The GoNigeria founder stressed the need for continued vigilance and accountability in Nigeria’s electoral process, urging citizens to remain engaged in monitoring the activities of electoral institutions.

He made the remarks under the hashtags #Osunvotes2026 and #GoNigeria.