Justice Development and Peace Makers Centre, Osogbo, an organisation that advances the social doctrines of the Catholic Church and advocates for democracy and electoral integrity, has announced the withdrawal of its observers from the ongoing local government elections in Osun State.
The faith-based organisation alleged irregularities in the conduct of the polls, saying it has been difficult for the NGO to monitor the polls owing to “legal lock jam.”
A statement by the General Coordinator of JDPMC on Saturday, Rev Fr Peter Akinkunmi lamented that the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission became less engaging and accessible since February 10, 2025 that the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, delivered a judgement that reportedly reinstated the sacked local government chairmen and councillors elected in 2022 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Akinkunmi said, “Consequent developments from the court’s ruling such as incidents of violent bloodshed, lawlessness, politicization of court ruling among others since February 17, 2025, JDPMC began to observe fast degeneration of confidence in the entire process in many stakeholders.”
He said the disagreement between the election management body and the Police made it impossible for the organisation to undertake a credible election observation exercise in strict adherence to its principles based on best practice, and therefore, withdrew its observation of the process.
“The organization has since provided avenue of dialogue for stakeholders through stakeholders dialogue forums involving INEC, OSSIEC, the law enforcement agencies, the media, PWDs and CSOs, conducted series of advocacy to OSSIEC, Nigerian Police Force and IPAC, supported the training of OSSIEC, carried out series of voter education through the media and provided radio airtime for youths and women contestants across all political parties, and organized avenues for OSSIEC to enlighten the public to ensure a peaceful and participatory election. JDPMC hereby commends all the above-mentioned stakeholders for the active collaboration and participation of these stakeholders in all the remote pre-election activities it organized for a free, fair, transparent and credible election in all the activities between February 2024 up till February 8, 2025, when JDPMC met with the executive of IPAC.
“Since the ruling of the Court of Appeal sitting that sat in Akure on February 10, 2025, JDPMC faced extreme difficulties in furtherance of its pre-election activities as OSSIEC had become less engaging and accessible ever since. This frustrated efforts to get very useful information about the election for further engagement with stakeholders and the citizenry ahead of the election. With other consequent developments from the court’s ruling such as incidents of violent bloodshed, lawlessness, politicization of court ruling among others since February 17, 2025, JDPMC began to observe fast degeneration of confidence in the entire process in many stakeholders. While the organization continued to mobilize for the restoration of peace, order and cooperation among stakeholders, it proceeded with all preparatory activities including deployment of observers to various polling units on February 21, 2025.
“However, JDPMC observed that since the “legal lock jam” resulting from the directives of the Attorney General of the federation and order of the High Court that sat in Ilesa on February 21, 2025, the Nigerian Police Force and OSSIEC openly disagree on the conduct of the Osun Local Government election on this 22nd day of February 2025. While the Osun State government and OSSIEC have decided that the election holds, the Nigerian Police Force through the Force Public relation Officer ACP Muyiwa Adejobi in a statement issued on February 21, 2025 “strongly advised” the Osun state government to suspend the election.
“For JDPMC, this disagreement between the two major pillars of a peaceful, transparent and credible election, namely the Election Management Body and the Law Enforcement Agency, makes it impossible for the organisation to undertake a credible election observation exercise in strict adherence to its principles based on best practice. JDPMC hereby withdraws all its observers from the various polling units with immediate effects and so announces its discontinuation of observing the February 22, 2025, Osun Local Government election. The organization regrets this unfortunate but inevitable development.
“It must be emphasized that this does not in any way have the implication that the organization agrees with any of the interpretation of the contested judgement of the appellate court. The decision is strictly based on the disagreement between the police and OSSIEC on the conduct of the election which for us cannot guarantee the atmosphere required for the conduct and observation of a credible election. The evident absence of the security agents in the polling units and the non-enforcement of curfew directed by the state government for the conduct of the election strongly reinforced our understanding of the statement of the Nigerian Police PRO given that we sought without success for the interpretation of the statement without success from the authorities of the Nigerian Police Force Osun State Command.
“The organization thanks all partners who offered funding and technical support, and enriched its strategy through knowledge sharing namely, Misereor Germany, EU-SDGN Phase II project, YIAGA Africa and Kimpact Development Initiative. Appreciations also to all the major stakeholders: INEC, OSSIEC, IPAC and the security agencies in Osun state for the outstanding cooperation that characterized the fruitful remote pre-election activities. Above all, the organization wishes to appreciate the bishop, the priests and religious and the lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo for the inevitable support given to the organization. Special thanks also to the Bishops of the Mainline churches in Osogbo. Finally, the management of the organization expresses special thanks to the team of courageous and resilient staff of the organization and the team of field observers earlier trained and deployed for the observation of the election despite the threats of violence. We look forward to the stabilization of democracy and electoral integrity in Osun state and in Nigeria.
“We are urging all stakeholders, particularly the Federal and State governments, OSSIEC, security agencies, political parties, and civil society organizations, to take immediate steps to safeguard the electoral process and ensure that citizens can exercise their civic rights without any fear.
“JDPMC remains committed to promoting democracy, human rights, and good governance. We stand in solidarity with all stakeholders working towards peaceful and transparent elections and hope for conditions that will enable meaningful observation in the future,” Akinkunmi said.