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The Independent National Electoral Commission says a total of 4,427 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices have been configured for the Osun State governorship election, including 664 backup units, which could cater for any incident before and during the election.

The commission has also established 97 Super Registration Area Centres and 105 Registration Area Centres across all the local government areas in the state, which would be fully activated the night before election day.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Dayo Oketola, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

The commission has fixed August 15 for the state governorship election, with the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, contesting on the ticket of Accord against Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress, among others.

Ahead of the election, there has been reported violence in some areas in the state, with the attack on one of the INEC Permanent Voter Card collection centres.

NAN reports that some suspected hoodlums on Sunday stormed an INEC PVC collection centre located at Oyinlola DC School, Ward 2, Okuku, attacking staff members on duty and carting away electoral materials, including BVAS devices and PVCs.

The INEC chairman’s spokesman, however, said the development would not deter the commission from conducting a free, fair and credible governorship election in the state.

He described the stealing of PVCs as an exercise in futility, given the strict biometric verification required by BVAS technology.

“Nobody can use another person’s PVC to vote in an election in Nigeria again. The era of ghost voters is gone. With BVAS, you must tender your PVC and undergo biometric authentication.

“The technology has been tightened in such a manner that nobody can use another person’s identity to vote any longer in Nigeria.

“That has been proven in previous elections, particularly those that were conducted under the leadership of Prof Amupitan,” Oketola said.

Speaking further, Oketola said, “Whatever was carted away will be replaced. Out of the 4,427 BVAS, we have 664 prepared as backups. There is no way whatever happened can disrupt our plans for the election,” he assured.

He told NAN that the incident had been formally reported to the police, adding that an investigation had commenced.

“The Osun incident has been reported to the police. As we speak, it is already public knowledge that the police have started an investigation,” Oketola said.

He expressed confidence that the police would apprehend the suspects and recover the stolen commission assets.

“As a commission, we trust that the police will be diligent in their investigation, track those suspects, get them arrested and ensure they face the wrath of the law.

“We also trust that they’ll be able to recover our devices, including the BVAS that were reportedly carted away,” he added.

Oketola maintained that despite the attack, INEC’s operational preparations for the upcoming election remained firmly on track.

“It is a matter already under investigation; I cannot actually comment too much on it.

“But I know that it cannot distract INEC from carrying out the activities preceding the Osun governorship election.

“INEC cannot be distracted. We will conduct a free and fair election in Osun. That incident cannot distract us.

“The election will go on as planned, and we expect it to be free, fair and credible at the end of the day,” he said.

He disclosed that, as part of preparations, the commission was embarking on a pre-assessment tour of the state to evaluate operational readiness and engage key local stakeholders.

He assured registered Nigerians that necessary administrative measures would also be taken by the commission to ensure that no voter would be disenfranchised in the state as a result of the incident.

“Once a voter’s name is already on the voters’ register, and somehow, your PVC happens to be among those that have been reportedly stolen, I want to believe you can’t be disenfranchised from exercising your right or participating in the election, come Aug. 15.

“Whatever the commission will do to solve that problem will be done. I know the commission will leave no stone unturned to ensure that no registered voter in Osun is disenfranchised on the election day,” he said.

Oketola, while assuring voters of their safety during the election, called on all stakeholders to collaborate with the commission to protect the nation’s electoral assets and ensure a peaceful voting environment.

“While the security agencies will provide adequate security to protect people and election materials, we also need all key stakeholders to be vigilant.

“The people, community leaders and traditional rulers, security agencies, religious organisations, political actors; all of us must work together to ensure that the Osun election is not just successful, but conducted in an atmosphere that gives people the confidence to come out and exercise their franchise,” Oketola said.

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered clandestine factories producing banned sachet alcohol and alcoholic beverages packaged in PET bottles below 200ml, shutting down three manufacturing plants in Ogun State as part of its nationwide enforcement of the Federal Government’s ban.

The crackdown also turned violent, with regulatory officers attacked while carrying out enforcement operations, underscoring growing resistance from operators accused of flouting the prohibition.

The discoveries were made during an ongoing nationwide mop-up operation launched by the agency to enforce the Federal Government’s ban on the production, importation, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages packaged in sachets and PET bottles below 200ml.

Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency’s enforcement teams uncovered widespread violations in Lagos, Ogun and several other states, revealing that some manufacturers had continued producing the prohibited products despite repeated warnings and the full implementation of the ban.

According to her, the agency recovered 100ml banned PET bottles and rolls of sachet alcohol packaging materials bearing production dates as recent as July 23, 2026, indicating that some companies were still manufacturing the products only days before the enforcement raids.

“These were not leftover stocks. These manufacturers were producing banned products this very month, even after the ban had taken full effect and after NAFDAC had engaged them,” Adeyeye said.

She disclosed that some manufacturers relocated production lines to hidden, unregistered facilities to evade regulators, while others removed company signboards and identifying marks from their factories in an attempt to conceal their operations.

“In one facility, officers found crates of finished products stacked alongside 100ml bottles positioned close to production machines. We will find these facilities wherever they are hidden, and they will be brought to book,” she said.

As part of the crackdown, NAFDAC sealed three alcohol manufacturing companies in Ota, Ogun State, after uncovering multiple breaches of the ban.

The agency said the enforcement operation, led by Assistant Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Kunle Ojo, revealed that one of the affected factories was actively producing sachet alcohol alongside large quantities of PET bottles when inspectors first visited.

Although the company was directed to suspend production, a follow-up inspection showed that the sachet alcohol previously placed under regulatory hold had been secretly removed from the premises.

NAFDAC described the action as a serious violation because the products were already under official enforcement.

A second factory was found to have continued producing sachet alcoholic beverages despite the prohibition and was immediately sealed.

At a third company, officials found that 22 production machines, sealed by NAFDAC since January, had been illegally reopened and returned to operation to continue manufacturing sachet alcohol.

The agency said millions of PET bottles and sachet packaging materials were recovered from the facility and confiscated for destruction before the factory was sealed.

However, the enforcement operation turned violent in some locations, with NAFDAC officials coming under attack while carrying out their duties.

Adeyeye disclosed that one enforcement officer was threatened with a weapon and nearly stabbed, while another was slapped and pushed by suspected violators attempting to obstruct the operation.

She described the attacks as criminal acts and warned that those responsible would face prosecution.

“An attack on a NAFDAC officer carrying out lawful regulatory duty is an attack on the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It will be investigated and prosecuted,” she said.

The Director-General reiterated that the ban on sachet alcohol and alcoholic beverages packaged in containers below 200ml was irreversible, warning that manufacturers, distributors and retailers who continued to produce or trade in the prohibited products would face severe sanctions.

“Manufacturers found still producing will have their facilities shut down. Products found in the market will be seized and destroyed. Distributors and retailers found handling these products will face sanctions,” she said.

Adeyeye explained that the ban followed an eight-year regulatory process that began in 2018, after mounting evidence linked cheap, portable alcoholic products to rising alcohol consumption among children and adolescents.

She said manufacturers were initially granted a five-year transition period to adjust their operations, but repeated requests for extensions delayed full enforcement until the Federal Government directed NAFDAC to commence implementation.

According to her, the Senate, through resolutions adopted in November 2025, instructed the agency not to grant any further extension and urged all relevant government institutions to support enforcement of the policy.

She said the decision was informed by growing public health concerns over the widespread availability of sachet alcohol in kiosks, motor parks, roadside stalls and other informal outlets where minors could easily purchase the products.

“We are not against alcohol. Adults can decide what they consume. But children should not have easy access to highly concentrated alcohol packaged in forms that are cheap, portable and easy to conceal,” Adeyeye said.

She added that the agency was strengthening intelligence gathering and exploring the use of artificial intelligence to monitor online marketing and distribution of regulated products as part of efforts to curb illegal production and sales.

NAFDAC said the nationwide mop-up operation would continue until all prohibited sachet alcohol and sub-200ml PET alcoholic beverages were removed from circulation, urging Nigerians to stop purchasing the products and to report manufacturers, distributors and retailers violating the ban.

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Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has approved the naming of newly completed government buildings after three former governors of the state in recognition of their contributions to its development.

The former governors are Chief Ayodele Fayose, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Engr. Segun Oni. They are also expected to commission the facilities named in their honour.

The announcement was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode.

According to the statement, two of the buildings, named after Fayemi and Fayose, will be commissioned on July 31 and August 3, 2026, respectively.

It added that another building named after Segun Oni is at an advanced stage of completion and is scheduled for commissioning in October.

The statement recalled that in October 2024, Governor Oyebanji named the remodelled Presidential Lodge after the state’s first civilian governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who later commissioned the facility during activities marking the administration’s second anniversary.

It further stated that Fayemi, Fayose and Oni will attend the commissioning ceremonies as special guests of honour and officially inaugurate the buildings named after them.

According to the statement, the commissioning of the projects marks the beginning of another phase of project inaugurations by the Oyebanji administration as it concludes its first term.

The government said the initiative reflects the administration’s commitment to completing ongoing projects and making them available for public use in line with its Shared Prosperity Agenda.