INEC Dispatches BVAS To Over 23 State, Dismisses CUPP’s Allegation

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, revealed that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ( BVAS) has been dispatched to over 23 States in preparation for the forthcoming election.

Okoye said the electronic transmission of polling unit-level results is a foregone conclusion because it is part of the national asset and cannot be jettisoned. According to him, no individual or group can at this moment delegitimise the processes and procedures of the election, “we are marching forward to 2023.” Naija News reports that Okoye noted that the constitution gave backing for the use of BVAS for voter accreditation and that the allegations by 17 political parties on Wednesday that the commission was under pressure to dump the BVAS in the 2023 polls were not true. Recall that Naija News reported yesterday that the spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency, Ikenga Ugochinyere and CUPP National Secretary and Labour Party candidate for Ankpa/Olamaboro/Omala Federal Constituency of Kogi State, Peter Ameh had alleged that there were plots to truncate the 2023 general elections through evil means, including stopping the electronic transmission of results. While reacting to the allegation, Okoye, in a Punch Newspaper report, dismissed speculations relating to the electronic transmission as idle talks, describing the BVAS as a national asset. He stated that ‘’the use of the BVAS for the conduct of the 2023 general election is irreversible. The BVAS is the game-changer in the 2023 general election. Speculations and rumours relating to the abandonment of the BVAS are empty and without foundation. “The constitution and the law give unalloyed backing and flavour to the use of the BVAS for voter accreditation and authentication. It is illegal not to deploy the BVAS for accreditation. The BVAS is now a national asset.” Buttressing the significance of the BVAS, the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke while in Washington DC, noted that the machine has eliminated the flaws in previous elections, including identity theft and multiple accreditations. While reiterating that the commission has dispatched the BVAS to over 23 states of the federation, he said with the introduction of the BVAS, identity theft, multiple registrations and the use of incident forms during elections have been eliminated. According to him, the deployment of technology in the nation’s electoral process has increased the citizens’ confidence. The INEC boss stated that “The BVAS has eliminated multiple accreditations that were observed in previous elections. Now, you are sure that the person who is accredited is the voter and the bearer of the card. It has increased public confidence in the outcome of elections as shown in the recent off-cycle elections. People tend to be more confident now with the protection of the process of accreditation using technology.’’

This article was originally published on Naija News