The controversy surrounding the presence of the Ebonyi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Oyenka Pauline Ugochi, in Osun State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election has deepened following the emergence of an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) document listing her as a support REC for Ilesa East and Ilesa West Local Government Areas.

The development comes barely 48 hours after the Osun State chapter of the Accord Party raised the alarm over what it described as the “unofficial presence” of the Ebonyi REC in the state and demanded an immediate explanation from INEC.

Documents obtained and examined by HorizonTimes in connection with the controversy show an apparent discrepancy between an August 3, 2026 letter from INEC’s Office of the Secretary to the Commission and another document allegedly released by the Osun State REC, detailing the deployment of support RECs across Osun State.

The letter, signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Dr Rose Oriaran-Anthony, was addressed to Resident Electoral Commissioners from 15 states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Borno, Edo, Kwara, Sokoto, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Lagos, Plateau and Yobe states.

Notably, Ebonyi State REC, an alleged ally of Governor Hope Uzodima of Imo State, was not listed among the states RECs named in the address of the letter.

The letter, titled “Supervision for the Osun State Governorship Election Scheduled to Hold on 15th August 2026,” informs the listed RECs that the Commission had nominated them as Support RECs for the election.

It further directs the support RECs to come along with their Heads of Department, Electoral Operations officials, Heads of Units, logistics personnel and five Electoral Officers to assist with the coordination and supervision of the election.

The letter also states that the REC in Osun State would be expecting the support RECs and their supervision contingents in the state from Tuesday, August 11, ahead of a scheduled briefing on Wednesday, August 12.

However, a schedule released by Osun State INEC and made available to the public listed “REC EBONYI”, to oversee election in Ilesa West and Ilesa East.

According to the schedule, Ilesa West has 121 polling units while Ilesa East has 132 polling units, with the Ebonyi REC listed against the two local government areas.

The apparent discrepancy has raised questions about when and how the Ebonyi REC became part of the supervisory arrangement for the Osun election despite an official INEC letter to the contrary.

While the main letter is addressed to RECs from 15 contributing states and does not include Ebonyi among the states listed, the accompanying deployment schedule identifies a REC from Ebonyi as responsible for supervising electoral activities in two Osun local government areas.

The controversy was further underscored on Thursday when Oyenka Pauline Ugochi was conspicuously present at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Osogbo during the distribution of sensitive electoral materials ahead of Saturday’s poll.

Her presence at the exercise, coming despite the absence of Ebonyi State from the list of states named in the August 3 deployment letter, has further heightened questions over the circumstances of her deployment to Osun and the authority under which she is participating in the electoral preparations.

The development gives fresh significance to the alarm raised by Accord on Thursday over the presence of Oyenka Pauline Ugochi in Osun.

In its statement, the party questioned why the Ebonyi REC was in Osun when, according to the official correspondence it cited, Ebonyi was not among the states whose RECs had been formally invited to provide supervisory support for the election.

Accord had specifically demanded that INEC explain who authorised the Ebonyi REC's presence in Osun and what role she was expected to perform.

The party also called for the immediate publication of the complete list of officials deployed for the election, arguing that transparency over the identities and responsibilities of election officials was essential to public confidence in the process.