Traditional Religion Worshippers Write INEC, Demand ‘New Date’ For 2026 Osun Guber Election

Ahead of the governorship election scheduled to hold in Osun State on August 8, 2026, members of the Traditional Religion Worshippers Association in the State of the Living Spring have urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to go ahead with the election as planned but rather choose and announce a new date for the people of the state to go to the polls.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the association made the request through the letter sent to the head of the electoral body, Professor Joash Amupitan which was signed by its president, Dr. Oluseyi Atanda and dated January 20, 2026.

The association cited the upcoming 2026 Osun Osogbo Festival which will hold on August 7.

Dr Oluseyi Atanda noted that doing this will not be inappropriate given that the 2015 presidential election in which Muhammadu Buhari was elected was initially scheduled to hold on February14, 2015, but was shifted to 28th March.

‘We are aware that the Osun State gubernatorial election is scheduled to hold on Saturday, August 8, 2026. However, as a religious body, we shall be asking for the shifting of the said date. We want to bring it to your notice that the Osun Osogbo Festival shall be coming up that same week.

Osun Osogbo Festival is a sacred connection to Osogbo and has become a World Tourism Festival. The Osun Osogbo Festival is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the festival has been on for over 20 years drawing large crowds all over the world.

The Osun Osogbo Festival is currently the largest crowd-pulling Festival in Nigeria. We want to bring it to your notice that the dates for the festival for this year have been fixed between the 27th of July, 2026 and 7th of August, 2026.

The said dates had been prefixed and calculated traditionally in harmony with some other festivals and spiritual rites. By custom, the Friday 7th of August 2026 is the grand finale for the festival and the festival activities on that Friday, 7th of August 2026, will not end until about 6:00pm after the Arugba retires back to the palace. Many adherents and tourists from within and outside Nigeria would have been in town especially on the 7th of August 2026, for the Osun Osogbo Festival.

The festival is not usually shifted as it is customarily held on a spiritually calculated Friday. By history, the festival was moved twice and the aftermath effects were disastrous.

Sir, we want to draw your attention to the fact that Election will be holding the following day, 8th of August, 2026, and this may pose security risks because there are bound to be restrictions of movements on Friday which may be very difficult and very challenging to enforce due to the travelers from Nigeria and outside Nigeria especially those who will come from abroad.

We want you to know that politicians may want to take advantage of the crowd to cause mayhem in view of the election coming up the following day. It is our Fundamental Right to protect the sacredness of Our Spiritual Festival.

We want you to know sir, most notably that the 2015 Presidential Election in which President Muhammadu Buhari was elected was shifted from February 14, 2015 to 28th March due to security reasons. We are using the medium to seek for a shift in date in respect of the upcoming election in Osun State’ Atanda submitted.

A top INEC official in Abuja, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however said the electoral body may grant or reject their request while noting that it is belated.

‘They are behindhand, it is a belated request but the electoral body may grant or reject their request.

In May last year, INEC announced that the governorship election will be held on August 8 and for 10 months there were no complaints.

Talking about their special request, I will say it is a remote possibility’ she said-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079,  08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you