By Esther Olaoluwa |
With one week to the 2026 Osun State governorship election, the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) has urged voters to look beyond campaign promises and consider the credibility, feasibility and readiness of candidates’ policy commitments.
PLSI made the call in its ÀDÉHÚN Pre-Election Accountability Report on the 2026 Osun governorship election, released on Monday in Abuja.
The report, produced through the organisation’s Policy Accountability Lab (PAL), assessed candidates’ publicly available policy commitments using five indicators: clarity, feasibility, alignment, coverage and inclusivity.
The assessment also benchmarked the candidates’ commitments against the Osun State Development Plan (2023–2050).
Campaign Promises Outpace Implementation Plans
PLSI found that none of the assessed candidates had published a fully costed manifesto or an implementation-ready fiscal framework.
While the candidates made commitments across key sectors including agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure, youth employment and economic development, the report said the promises generally lacked programme costing, financing strategies, implementation timelines, institutional delivery arrangements and measurable performance indicators.
Of the candidates with sufficient policy evidence for assessment, four were rated Strong, one Moderate and two Weak.
However, seven candidates had insufficient publicly available policy evidence for a consistent assessment, while no candidate attained the “Excellent” category.
The findings, according to PLSI, highlight the need for voters to scrutinise not only what candidates promise but also whether they have demonstrated a credible plan to deliver those promises if elected.
PLSI Urges Voters to Assess Delivery Readiness
Speaking on the report, PLSI Founder and Executive Director, Olusegun Elemo, said voters should focus less on who makes the biggest promises and more on who has shown the strongest preparedness to fulfil them.
“The question before Osun voters is no longer simply who has made the biggest promises. The more important question is who has demonstrated the strongest preparedness to deliver them,” Elemo said.
He added that campaign promises should represent a covenant between candidates and citizens.
PLSI urged political parties to publish costed, measurable and implementation-ready manifestos, while calling on candidates to align their commitments with the Osun State Development Plan.
The organisation also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promote wider public access to candidates’ policy platforms.
It urged civil society organisations and the media to deepen issue-based debates ahead of the election and encouraged citizens to evaluate candidates based on the credibility and feasibility of their policy commitments.
ÀDÉHÚN Tracks Campaign Promises
The report is part of ÀDÉHÚN, meaning “covenant,” PLSI’s flagship electoral accountability initiative.
Through its Electoral Accountability Tool, the initiative documents, evaluates and tracks campaign promises before and after elections, enabling citizens to monitor whether elected leaders fulfil the commitments made during their campaigns.
PLSI, a Nigerian civic organisation established in 2016, said the initiative is aimed at advancing accountability, strengthening democratic governance and improving public service delivery through stronger public audit systems, policy implementation and citizen engagement.
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