FILE PHOTO: A Voter casting her vote
Osun voters go to the polls on 15 August with more than 2.3 million people on the register. But one of the most important battlegrounds is already active: the information space. Claims about government performance, election rigging, insecurity, candidates, and even the voting process itself are circulating on social media alongside ordinary campaign persuasion.
Osun accounted for 2,461 of the 4,169 young people surveyed by CJID across Osun and Ekiti, representing 59 per cent of respondents. The survey suggests a more complicated picture of youth political participation than simple apathy. Across the two states, 52.1 per cent of respondents said they were very or somewhat interested in politics, even though 54.3 per cent were not registered to vote.
There are also signs of a trust gap as more than half (56.8 per cent) felt their voices were not heard in political decision-making, while 40.4 per cent said they did not trust the electoral commission to conduct free and fair elections. Only 35.5 per cent said they did, with another 24 per cent undecided. These figures are not Osun-only estimates, so they should be interpreted with some caution. But with Osun respondents making up the majority of the sample, they provide useful context for this election.
