The Osun election has come and gone. Its most significant outcome is that the will of the people prevailed despite the shenanigans of the ruling APC administration, including the deployment of military personnel on the one hand and a political occupation force on the other.
Despite the desperation of the ruling party to intimidate voters, the people of Osun organised themselves formidably to defend their votes. To me, that is perhaps the most important lesson from the governorship election.
If voters can organise themselves, resist intimidation and vote according to their convictions, as we witnessed in Osun, there is hope that this courage can be replicated across the country in the 2027 elections. Osun voters have inspired other Nigerians to understand that they can peacefully defend their votes. They have demonstrated that their voices count and that, when citizens stand firm, the ballot can prevail over intimidation.
In a democracy, power resides with the people, and Osun voters have sent that message resoundingly.
Let us not, however, overlook the hidden dangers and loopholes that must be addressed if the 2027 elections are to reflect the genuine will of Nigerians. The lesson from Osun is not merely that votes can count; it is that every institution entrusted with protecting those votes must understand that its loyalty is to the Constitution and the Nigerian people, not to the government or political party of the day.
INEC must therefore resist every attempt to compromise its independence or manipulate the electoral process. Elections must be conducted transparently, results must be transmitted and declared in accordance with the law, and the Commission must ensure that administrative failures, technological excuses or deliberate obstruction are never allowed to undermine the choices freely made by Nigerians.
The security agencies must equally remember that elections are civil exercises, not military operations. Their responsibility is to protect voters, electoral officials and materials — not to intimidate citizens or provide political advantage to the ruling party. The instruments of the Nigerian state belong to Nigerians and must never be converted into instruments of partisan coercion.
Beyond INEC and the security agencies, the judiciary must recognise the enormous responsibility history has placed on its shoulders. Our courts must never allow themselves to become instruments in the hands of the Federal Government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, or any political interest seeking to achieve through judicial manipulation what it cannot legitimately obtain through the ballot box.
The judiciary remains one of the last institutional safeguards of our democracy. Once citizens begin to believe that electoral outcomes can be overturned, manufactured or predetermined through political influence over the courts, public confidence in both democracy and the rule of law is imperilled. Judges must therefore defend their independence with courage and resist every attempt at intimidation, inducement or interference. The judiciary must not allow itself to be used to destroy the very democracy it is constitutionally entrusted to protect.
Ultimately, however, the greatest responsibility rests with the Nigerian people. Osun has demonstrated that when citizens are determined, organised and peaceful, intimidation can be resisted and political power can be compelled to respect the popular will.
That spirit must now travel beyond Osun.
As we approach 2027, Nigerians must understand that democracy cannot be defended by politicians alone. It will be defended by citizens who insist that their votes count, demand that public institutions obey the law and refuse to surrender their sovereign right to choose those who govern them.
Osun has shown what is possible when the people refuse to be intimidated.
The message from Osun is therefore bigger than the outcome of one election: the power of the people can still be greater than the power of the state when citizens are united in defence of their democratic rights.
That is the lesson we must carry into 2027.
Atiku Abubakar is a former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress
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