INEC's 3,763-row Osun table backs its signed count of 1,906,390 collected voter cards to within two cards; unpublished text on its website carries a lower figure

On 13 August 2026, two days before the Osun State governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a signed press release giving the final count of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected in the state: "Out of the total of 2,339,233 registered voters in the State, 1,906,390 PVCs, representing 81.50 per cent, have been collected." The remaining 432,843 cards, 18.50 per cent, were deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria. The release, signed by National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said a polling unit by polling unit table had been published on the commission's website. Vero Record downloaded that table and re-added it.

The table is an 83-page PDF headed "Total number of registered voters and collected PVCs for the 2026 Osun State governorship election". Its file properties show it was printed from a spreadsheet named "Final Osun 2026 PVC Collection Figure B.xlsx" on 12 August 2026 at 15:38. It lists 3,763 polling units, each with its own delimitation code, across 30 local government areas and 332 registration areas. Each row gives registered voters, collected cards, uncollected cards and a percentage.

The table supports the commission's headline figures. The 3,763 rows add to exactly 2,339,233 registered voters, the number in the release and on the table's own TOTAL line. The printed totals are consistent with each other: 1,906,390 collected plus 432,843 uncollected equals 2,339,233, and 1,906,390 divided by 2,339,233 is 81.496 per cent, which rounds to the 81.50 per cent INEC published.

Added row by row, the two card columns come out one higher than the printed totals: 1,906,391 collected and 432,844 uncollected. The difference traces to two rows in Ayedaade Local Government Area, both in Gbongan. Row 168, Oke Rorun, Obada Area, lists 757 registered voters, 571 collected and 187 uncollected; row 191, St. Martin's Pry School, Iwo Road, lists 757 registered, 573 collected and 185 uncollected. In each case the two parts add to 758, one more than the registered figure. These are the only two of the 3,763 rows where the parts do not add to the whole. The gap is two cards in more than 2.3 million and does not change the published percentage.

The table also shows how collection varied across the state. By local government area, the lowest rate was Isokan, with 50,167 of 65,379 cards collected (76.73 per cent), and the highest was Irepodun, with 60,273 of 67,131 (89.78 per cent). No polling unit is below 68.74 per cent, the figure for Ogboni's Area II in Ilesa West, where 431 of 627 cards were collected. Two hundred and fifty polling units show 95 per cent or more, and one, in Atakumosa East, shows all 384 of its cards collected.

INEC's 8 August release had said replacement downloadable PVCs were issued in Odo-Otin and Ife Central local government areas, "whose cards were carted away by hoodlums who invaded the two centres", and that the stolen cards could not be used to vote. In the table, Odo-Otin shows 66,731 of 82,574 cards collected (80.81 per cent) and Ife Central 96,105 of 122,454 (78.48 per cent). The 13 August release said 6,101 people printed downloadable copies of replacement cards. Neither document says whether those 6,101 are counted within the 1,906,390, or how the stolen cards are counted.

The website that carries these documents also holds, in the code behind its press pages, a typed text version of each release. Those text versions are not shown to readers: the rendered press pages display the scanned signed releases and, for the PVC release, a link to the PDF. The typed text nonetheless differs from the signed documents. The text for the PVC release says 1,518,485 cards were collected, "representing over 78%" of registered voters. That is 387,905 fewer than the signed figure, and 1,518,485 is 64.91 per cent of 2,339,233, not over 78 per cent. Its other details, 30 local government areas and 332 registration areas, match the table.

The other two Osun releases show the same pattern. The signed 12 August release says the Social Democratic Party candidate, Dr Francis Olugbenga Ajala, and his running mate were added to the ballot in compliance with a Federal High Court, Abuja judgment of 22 July 2026 in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/344/2026, bringing the number of parties to fifteen. The stored text says the commission had been served with "the enrolled order of the Court of Appeal". The signed 8 August release cites no statute; the stored text describes a "48-hour extension" and invokes "Section 16(1) of the Electoral Act 2022". Section 154 of the Electoral Act 2026 repeals the 2022 Act, and section 16 of the 2026 Act concerns the printing and issue of voters' cards, with no rule on when collection stops.

The signed 8 August release matters beyond Osun, because it is also a governorship document for 2027. It says the window for parties to upload their lists of candidates for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections of the February 2027 general election, set by the revised timetable to close on Saturday, 8 August 2026, was extended to Tuesday, 11 August 2026. That is three days, not 48 hours. INEC's election calendar fixes the governorship and State House of Assembly elections for 6 February 2027.

Measured against the Electoral Act 2026, that window is well inside the law. Section 29(1) requires parties to submit their lists not later than 120 days before the election. Counting back 120 days from 6 February 2027 gives 9 October 2026, so the commission's 11 August cutoff, 179 days before polling day, came 59 days earlier than the Act requires. On this point the record supports the commission.

The Act's next step is less clear on the record. Section 29(3) says the commission shall, within 21 days of receiving a candidate's personal particulars, publish them "in the constituency where the candidate intends to contest". Twenty-one days from 11 August is 1 September 2026. On 4 October, 54 days after the window closed, the commission's 2027 general election update page listed three statutory notices, for the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections, and no governorship or State House of Assembly particulars. The Act does not require publication on the website, so this absence does not show that particulars were not displayed in the states. The later fixed points are 8 November 2026, the last day under section 31 for parties to convey a candidate's withdrawal (90 days before the election), and 8 December 2026, the last day under section 32(1) for INEC to publish the names and addresses of all nominated candidates (at least 60 days before).

What the documents establish is that INEC's signed Osun PVC figures are borne out by its own polling unit table, to within two cards. What they do not establish is why typed versions with a different card count, a different court and a repealed statute sit behind three of the commission's press pages, who wrote them, or whether they were ever shown to the public. Those are questions only the commission can answer.

What this rests on

Grade A: INEC signed press releases of 8, 12 and 13 August 2026 (scanned images served by inecnigeria.org, downloaded and read); INEC PDF 'PU-Level PVC Collection for 2026 Osun State Government Election' (83 pages, 3,763 rows, parsed with pymupdf and re-added); Electoral Act 2026 ss.16, 29, 31, 32, 154 (read); INEC election calendar page (6 February 2027). Grade A as a record of what is stored, not of publication: the typed release texts in the site's JavaScript bundle Bnr0ArTo.js, retrieved 4 October 2026; rendered press pages checked with Playwright show only the scanned releases. Arithmetic: 1,906,390 + 432,843 = 2,339,233; 1,906,390 / 2,339,233 = 81.496% (rounds to 81.50%); 432,843 / 2,339,233 = 18.504%. Row sums: registered 2,339,233; collected 1,906,391; uncollected 432,844; 1,906,391 + 432,844 = 2,339,235, two more than registered, from rows 168 (571 + 187 = 758 vs 757) and 191 (573 + 185 = 758 vs 757). 1,906,390 - 1,518,485 = 387,905; 1,518,485 / 2,339,233 = 64.91%. LGAs: Isokan 50,167 / 65,379 = 76.73%; Irepodun 60,273 / 67,131 = 89.78%; Odo-Otin 66,731 / 82,574 = 80.81%; Ife Central 96,105 / 122,454 = 78.48%. Days: 8 Aug to 11 Aug 2026 = 3 days. 11 Aug 2026 to 6 Feb 2027 = 20 (rest of Aug) + 30 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 31 + 6 = 179 days. 120 days before 6 Feb 2027 = 9 Oct 2026 (6 + 31 + 31 + 30 + 22 = 120); 179 - 120 = 59. 11 Aug + 21 days = 1 Sep 2026. 11 Aug to 4 Oct = 20 + 30 + 4 = 54 days. s.31: 90 days before = 8 Nov 2026; s.32(1): 60 days before = 8 Dec 2026.

What this does not establish

Whether the 6,101 downloadable replacement cards, or the cards stolen in Odo-Otin and Ife Central, are inside the 1,906,390 collected. Which figure in rows 168 and 191 is wrong. Who wrote the typed release texts in the website code, when, and whether they were ever displayed; they are not displayed now. Whether governorship and State House of Assembly candidates' particulars were published in the states within 21 days of 11 August 2026 under s.29(3); only the website was checked. The date the revised timetable sets for INEC's final governorship list; the revised timetable itself was not found on the website. The Osun result; this piece does not deal with it. INEC has not been asked for comment on these points; that should be done before publication.