Ahead of Saturday, 15 August Osun State governorship election, security agencies stepped up preparations for the poll, with at least 25,310 personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission deployed across the state, reports thegazellenews.com.
The security build-up comes as 14 political parties prepare to contest the August 15, 2026 governorship election.
Among the candidates, three have emerged as prominent contenders based on their political strength and visibility: incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress and Najeem Salam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The deployment, it was gathered, comprises 15,000 police officers, 10,210 NSCDC personnel and about 100 EFCC officers, according to separate announcements by the agencies.
On Monday, 10 August, 2026, the NSCDC Commandant-General, Prof. Abubakar Audi, ordered the deployment of 10,000 personnel from 10 neighbouring state commands to reinforce security operations across Osun.
The personnel are drawn from the Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Lagos, Kwara, Edo, Kogi, Delta and Federal Capital Territory commands, with about 1,000 personnel from each command.
The deployment will complement the corps’ existing personnel in Osun and cover the state’s 30 local government areas, including polling units, electoral officials, observers, journalists and residents.
NSCDC spokesman, Afolabi Babawale, said specialised units, including the Commandant-General’s Special Intelligence Squad, Special Weapons and Tactics Unit, Specialised Female Squad, Mining Marshals, Special Strike Force, Crack Squad and K9 Unit, had also been deployed.
Babawale, who said the units would support intelligence gathering, crime prevention, protection of critical infrastructure, crowd control and other election-related operations added that the corps’s Deputy Commandant-General in charge of Operations, Ayuba Phillip, alongside designated Assistant Commandant-Generals and other senior officers, would relocate to Osun to supervise the corps’ election security operations.
According Babawale , Audi charged personnel to remain professional, neutral and respectful of citizens’ rights throughout the election.
“As an agency saddled with the responsibility of protecting critical infrastructure and national assets, the safety and security of election materials and electoral officials are very critical alongside the electorates.
“You have the responsibility of ensuring unbiased synergy with other security agencies on election duty to actualise a free, fair and credible election.
“Our personnel have been properly briefed on the need to be professional, neutral and respectful in the discharge of their duties, ” NSCDC boss said, just as he also warned political thugs and others planning to disrupt the election that they would face the law.
“The NSCDC in collaboration with other security agencies on election duty will not tolerate any activity intended to jeopardise the election process; criminal-minded persons and political thugs willing to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election would face the wrath of the law as prescribed in the Electoral Act.”
The Nigeria Police Force had earlier announced the deployment of 15,000 personnel to Osun for the election, including officers to be stationed at polling units and other strategic locations.
