Despite clarification by INEC, some major stakeholders are raising issues on the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal and Bimodal Voter Accreditation System ((BVAS) for the 2023 general election. TAIWO AMODU examines the inherent issues vis-à-vis the position of all the parties concerned.
Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to relish the passage of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) which has given legal backing to the deployment of modern technology aimed at promoting credibility of the electoral process. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) are two technological innovations which more than 95 million registered electorate, who will vote in 176,846 polling units across 774 local government areas in the country and the candidates to be fielded by 18 political parties have to contend with in the elections.
Aside the presidential election, candidates will seek to be elected in 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies, 993 state constituencies and 28 governorship positions.
Paradigm shift:
Stakeholders in the political process, particularly the civil society groups and INEC see the introduction of BVAS and IReV as having the capacity to inspire confidence and credibility of the next general election and subsequent elections and remove all doubts about the fidelity of the electoral umpire to ensure free, fair and credible elections. BVAS is a technological device used to identify and accredit voters’ fingerprints and facial recognition before voting. The device is also used for capturing images of the polling unit result sheet (Form EC8A) and uploading the image of the result sheet online. IReV on the other hand is an online portal where polling unit level results are uploaded directly from the polling unit, transmitted, and published for the public. At the front end of the online portal, members of the public can create personal accounts with which they can gain access to all uploaded results stored as PDF files.
IReV was first introduced in 2020 when a bye election was conducted in Nasarawa State. It has since been a success story.
BVAS had since been used in the Ekiti and Osun States governorship elections.
Stakeholders are convinced that with the experience of the two elections, the two technologies will address the weaknesses already identified in the management of the electoral process in the country to include; falsification of votes at polling units, falsification of number of accredited voters, collation of false results, mutilation of results and computational errors, swapping of results sheets, forging of results sheets, snatching and destruction of results sheets, obtaining declaration and return involuntarily, making declaration and return while result collation is still in progress and poor record keeping.
Gang up?
Despite the constitutional provision backing the use of the two technologies, the nation was informed last October of an alleged gang up by certain forces to sabotage its deployment. Spokesperson of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), civil society organisations and ethnic youth leaders, Ugo Ikenga Ugochinyere, told journalists at a press briefing of an alleged pressure on the leadership of INEC to deactivate BVAS from the server. Ugochinyere fingered the leadership of a political party, some governors, as mastermind of the plot to remove the national chairman and some top officials of the commission in order to achieve their aim. He warned that any further action in trying to remove the INEC chairman, deactivate BVAS or any act to compromise the 2023 election will be an affront and challenge to Nigerian voters and the entire political parties, which will be resisted.
Also speaking, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Labour Party, Chief Peter Ameh, said it is the confidence that Nigerians have in the electoral system that has caused the renewed vigour in the recent past in young people coming out to register and participating in the electoral process. “That hope in Nigeria must not be allowed to wane because of the activities of a few individuals who are in power today,” he said.
Also speaking at the INEC Quarterly meeting with leadership of political parties, presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party and Chairman of Inter- Party Advisory Council, Engineer Yabagi Yusuf Sani, assured the INEC Chairman of the support of political parties for his Commission’s deployment of modern technology which he noted was aimed at deepening the integrity of the electoral process .
Engineer Sani declared that the alleged plot to remove Professor Yakubu from INEC was not targeted at him but “the deployment of the Biomodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, the Electronic Transfer of results and the other security devices INEC has deftly and painstakingly put in place to enhance the integrity of the electoral process.”
He added: “The spurious allegations they are orchestrating especially in the online platforms are part of the strategies to prepare the grounds for their planned onslaught to achieve their nefarious goal within legal frameworks. It is also aimed at blackmailing and intimidating Professor Mahmoud Yakubu to surrender by compromising the stance of the Commission on the strident, airtight security measures against the maladies of rigging and other electoral malpractices that had perennially tarnished the integrity of elections in the country in the past.
“However, we believe that they will not have their way no matter their desperation and whatever their pranks and machinations. The use of technology in the conduct of elections in Nigeria has become sacrosanct and fait accompli Every player in the country’s power game must come to terms with the new reality that, they can no longer rig elections brazenly and with impunity.
“Mr. Chairman Sir, you can count on the usual support of IPAC, and as it is, the goodwill and backing of most citizens of the country in the present circumstance. “We urge you to remain steadfast and strong in the consciousness that, you have your hard-earned reputation to protect; that the eyes of the entire nation and indeed, the wider global community are keenly focused on you..
“At the end of the day, your choice on the issues currently at stake, will go far in defining your legacy, long after our generation. In other words, history beckons on you. May the Almighty God guide and provide you with the needed strength and wisdom to weather the storm.”
INEC
Following the threats to its innovations, the commission appears not bothered and has vowed not to go back to the uncertain days of use of Incident Forms that enables ineligible persons to vote using other people’s Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) during elections. Festus Okoye, INEC Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, said the commission remained committed to BVAS and would not submit itself to undue pressures. He said: “The BVAS is domiciled within the confines of the Electoral Act of 2022 and we do not have any fear whatsoever in relations to the validity and legality of the BVAS and other technological and electronic devices we are using for elections
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has given INEC the exclusive right, power and mandate to organise, undertake and supervise elections that are captured within the confines of the constitution. We are accountable to the people of this country and the people have accepted the BVAS as a game changer in our electoral process.
“We cannot, under any circumstances, go back in the use of BVAS for the purpose of voter accreditation and we can’t also go back on the issue of transmitting polling unit level results into our INEC result viewing portal. These two mechanisms and protocols are sacrosanct and the commission is committed to using them during the 2023 general election.”
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