The commission announced the suspension on Saturday. Voters who applied to replace lost, damaged or defaced cards now have until midnight on Sunday, August 9, to print downloadable copies. Miss it, and the window shuts.
INEC said the deadline was needed to gather data on downloaded cards and settle the final figures on how many PVCs have been collected before the August 15 poll.
The exercise has moved in stages. It began at the Registration Area level from July 22 to 28, then had to be extended to July 31 after voters complained of heavy crowds and long struggles at collection points. From there it moved to the local government level, running from August 1 to 7.
The commission also confirmed that replacement downloadable PVCs had been made available in the Odo-Otin and Ife Central Local Government Areas, where cards were stolen during attacks on the two centres — a reminder of the security worries hanging over the days before the vote.
On those stolen cards, INEC left no room for doubt. “The commission reiterates that the stolen cards cannot be used to vote,” the statement read, adding: “INEC reassures the people of Osun State of its readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive governorship election on 15th August, 2026.”
The same day, the commission gave the political parties a little more room on a separate deadline. It pushed back the window for submitting candidate lists for the 2027 governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, moving it from Saturday, August 8, to Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
The shift, in a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, came after the parties asked for extra time to finish their submissions on the dedicated online portal.
“The submission window, which according to the revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the General Election was originally scheduled to close on Saturday, 8th August, 2026, has been extended to Tuesday, 11th August, 2026,” the commission said.
Put side by side, the two announcements show an electoral body managing two clocks at once — the immediate rush of a state election days away, and the slower build towards 2027 — and, in Osun, doing it against a backdrop of thefts and attacks that have already tested the security around the poll.
For the people of Osun, the takeaway is simple enough: the clock is ticking. Anyone still chasing a replacement card has until Sunday night to get it sorted, or risk being shut out when the state votes on August 15.
