Worrying signals from Osun, can 2027 election be free and fair?

As the people of Osun State make their final preparations ahead of the Saturday, August 15, 2026, state elections, close observers are concerned over the worrying signals emerging from the last-minute election campaigns there.

Over the past few weeks, there have been reports of a tense political atmosphere, killings, accusations, counter-accusations, arrests, allegations of intimidation and fear of violence dominating public discourse.

One is concerned that the quality of campaigns for election into the governorship seat and the other seats in Osun State are such that fear has taken over the State of the Living Spring.

At a time when the electorate are supposed to be kings that should freely decide who would be elected and who would not be elected, they are condemned to languish in a state of fear.

As a result, rather than discussing what each of the political parties, their governorship candidates and state House of Assembly representatives would do in the areas of hunger eradication, unemployment, education, healthcare, agriculture and rural development, what has been featuring more prominently in the news are reports of violence, deaths or threats and the resultant fear they create in the land.

This is a worrisome development. As one contemplates our politicians’ seeming devotion to their usual strategy of fear as a weapon for easy dominance, one wonders if the people, who are the ultimate victims, have learnt to respond differently in order to get different results.

The point I am trying to make here is the signals emerging from Osun State elections campaigns suggest that our politicians have not changed and are not willing to change for good on their own.

Both in Osun State, in this coming state elections and in the 2027 General Election, our corrupt politicians are determined to employ the weapon of fear to dominate and rule over the people.

When they reel out the meaning of democracy as “government of the people for the people and by the people,” that phrase does not mean so much to them as they really do not believe it is the people that will eventually elect them into plum seats and offices.

So, instead of marketing themselves and their programmes, they concentrate on consolidating their hold on and their control of powerful cartels and terror groups who engineer fear by constantly issuing threats and by causing unending rifts.

From what we are seeing ahead of Osun State elections, it seems some of the politicians are employing similar strategies.

To them, it has worked before and it will still work again.

This explains why I am more concerned with how the people are responding to politicians’ old strategy. Truth is, you cannot respond to the same situation the same way and expect different or better results. No!

If Osun State people truly want to be in charge of the elections and if they want their next leaders to be their true choices, they must never bow to any threat; they must not also allow themselves to be cajoled into selling their votes. Instead, they must use those votes to select their choices.

That aside, the people must not only ensure they vote freely, they must bring out their time on Election Day to protect their votes and ensure the results announced are true. That is the only way their voices would be heard.

This is also true of the 2027 General Election. Already. the lies are so many that efforts to keep track of them may create more confusion. If you ask too many questions, they may come after you. That is part of the Nigerian political dilemma.

It is worrisome that the Nigerian electorate are supposed to elect new leaders in just few months away, yet some of them know almost nothing about the true identity of some of the so-called leading candidates.

It is common knowledge that the period of campaigns are supposed to be periods when candidates should market themselves and their intended programmes of action to the people to enable the electorate make their informed choices.

But where this very important period is deliberately distorted by political parties and candidates that do not have anything tangible to offer to the people, it speaks volumes of what to expect on the Election Day, the quality of the next leaders and what the next four years will look like for the unfortunate people.

In Osun State, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Oyebamiji and ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, are easily declared in reports as the major contenders in the race.

But aside from this media hype and declaration of these people as leading candidates in the elections, I am of the view that what should concern the electorate now include: the personal attributes or character of each of the candidates, their agenda and that of their political parties. This is what democracy is all about. It is ridiculous to expect a person of questionable character to get political power and then change overnight to do good to the people.

This also applies at the national level. If you ask, who are the leading candidates and what are their personal attributes? The usual names will be mentioned.

Yes, judging from what we read or hear in the news and what we believe their political platforms to be, it is likely to name President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC, Mr. Peter Obi of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of African Democratic Congress (ADC), etc., as the leading presidential candidates for the 2027 Elections in Nigeria.

Of course, these candidates are at the centre of reports of political intrigues, accusations, counter-accusations, threats and the resultant fear that continue to heighten tension ahead of the 2027 elections.

Without doubt, these candidates are masters in the game of politics. None of them is actually new.

But, ironically, most Nigerian voters and the people in general are evidently not doing enough to ensure they truly know the candidates before making their choices.

To me, it does not seem right to entrust the fate of a people in the hands of a man or woman that is not truly known.

This explains why we, as a people, must begin to view more seriously the offence of lying when would-be aspirants of public offices fill official documents. It amounts to taking a whole country on a ride.

Worse than this offence of spitting in the face of a country is the careless attitude of Nigerians who already know the lies of some aspirants to high offices and decided to cover them because of some perceived affinity they share with the aspirants or because of some other interests. This is shameful and fatal, to say the least.

So, both in Osun State elections and in the 2027 General Election, I call on the electorate to consider primarily the character of the candidates while making their choices. This is important. Any candidate that has continued to shroud his or her identity in mystery should not be voted to lead the people.

Why should any Nigerian open his or her eyes and vote for known liars and cheats? Why?

• Samuel Hezekiah Egburonu Esq, is a lawyer, veteran journalist, literary scholar and current affairs analyst