BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Until Wednesday last week, many observers of Nigeria politics were largely unconvinced by the alarm raised by the Coalition of United Political Parties that clandestine moves were being made to stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine, otherwise called BVAS, in the upcoming 2023 general elections. The claim was largely dismissed as unfounded and an unholy act of crying wolf where none existed.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja back then in mid-September, the spokesperson of the opposition parties, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, had claimed that their vigilance team, following credible intelligence, discovered a suit at the Owerri Federal High Court where it was filed since August 24, 2022, seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to discard the planned idea of using the BVAS for next year elections.
The parties further alleged that the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, was under intense pressure to announce a change to the Commission’s stance on the compulsory use of the BVAS machine for accreditation or get sacked as the electoral umpire’s boss.
“The intelligence CUPP intercepted which has led to the discovery of the suit filed seeking to nullify the BVAS and exposure of the massive compromise in the voter’s register cannot now be wrong that the third leg of the plot is to sack the National Chairman through a suspension as the plotters know they cannot get the required numbers from the National Assembly for an outright sack.
“We call on international partners, local and international observer groups, civil society and the general public to help it and protect democracy as the success of any of these plots will erode the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and deny Nigerians the sovereign right to freely choose their leaders,” CUPP claimed.
In apparent response to the allegation, the ruling All Progressives Congress denied making plans to influence the 2023 general elections by pressurizing the IINEC to discard the use of technology. APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, SAN, in a chat with journalists, dismissed the allegation, saying it was unfounded and false.
Keyamo, insisted that the ruling party has not in any way engaged INEC with any form of entreaty to compromise standards to favour it. He said such allegations were coming from opposition parties that were already sensing defeat and therefore, looking for reasons to justify that.
“There has been absolutely no occasion, where the APC, either through NWC or any of levels of leadership, put any kind of pressure on INEC.
Those sensing defeat are already looking for reasons for that defeat. It is one of the reasons, it is one of the excuses they are trying to generate to accommodate their defeat, but they should know that the defeat is imminent,” Keyamo stated.
BVAS AS GAME CHANGER
The introduction of the BVAS in a bye-election for Isoko South 1 State Constituency, Delta State, in September 2021, recorded instant success. It came across as a huge departure from previous attempts at conducting a transparent election. Yakubu described it as historic, the introduction of new technology.
According to him, “We introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for efficient human recognition through a biometric verification mechanism using both fingerprint and facial recognition of voters. The result of the pilot in the 84 polling units was very encouraging indeed.
“It took an average of just one minute for the device to correctly locate the voter in the system and another two minutes to authenticate a voter. In terms of the ruggedness of the device and its battery life, no single BVAS was replaced due to the discharge of the battery throughout the voting period.
“BVAS is a remarkable improvement over the card reader. It has been tested and proven its integrity. What INEC needs to do is to train those operators and work with service providers to ensure no disruptions of internet and network on the days of elections, and once we get that, the integrity of the elections is certain”
Most importantly, the device was able to guarantee the credibility of voter accreditation by preventing the incidents of multiple voting or the use of stolen PVCs to vote.
“All voters were accredited electronically using the BVAS. The use of the incident form was eliminated: The Isoko South 1 State Constituency bye-election was historic in this respect,” he said.Last month, BVAS scored another huge endorsement when former INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said it will be a game changer in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking to a national newspaper, Jega said, “BVAS is a remarkable improvement over the card reader. It has been tested and proven its integrity. What INEC needs to do is to train those operators and work with service providers to ensure no disruptions of internet and network on the days of elections, and once we get that, the integrity of the elections is certain.”
Jega added that “For the first time Nigeria will do electronic transmission of results, and INEC has robust technology architecture to do that. The commission wanted to use it in the general elections in 2015, but regrettably, in 2012, Kenya used it badly and it affected their election, so because of that it was fresh, INEC decided to shelve that idea.”
Jega further said that the use of BVAS was necessary because it helped to boost efficiency and transparency in both the collation and transmission of results, adding that INEC had developed the competence to deliver.
Speaking on the possibility of discarding it during the coming election, Jega said, “I know for a fact that close to elections, many political parties make comments, it is not just ruling, all political parties say negative things. So I plead with INEC to remain focused and shouldn’t be distracted by rumours that are not correct, but if the rumours are correct, then something needs to be done.
“But if people are bent on removing him to discard the BVAS, the commission should remain resolute because they know BVAS is critical which is why funds were spent to get it, and it is too late to put it aside.
A former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, known for his uncompromising attitude when it comes to ensuring the integrity and fidelity of elections, Mike Igini, was even blunter in his review of the performance of the BVAS.
He simply advised those planning to rig the 2023 general election to bury the thought, because the elections would be won or lost at the polling units.
Igini, who retired as the Akwa Ibom State REC, while speaking on a national television programme, said the 2022 Electoral Act has made polling units the “Center of the Universe”, pointing out that the new Electoral Act has given INEC unfettered powers to deploy technology in the conduct of the elections, and that the introduction of the BVAS and its sister INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), would make it highly impossible to rig the elections at the polling units level anymore.
His words, “The 2022 Electoral Act, has made polling units the Center of the Universe. This means that elections will now be determined in the Polling Units. The era of fraudulent electoral officers, changing election results may have gone, because the results harvested in the polling units must be declared right there and results transmitted to the INEC elections viewing portal,” he said.
Igini posited that with the use of Form EC8A, where the Presiding Officer would fill in the results into the form and transfer or transmit the same to INEC, IReV has become a game changer as the results could no longer be manipulated at collation centers.
“In line with Section 60 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the POs must transmit and also physically take Form EC8A, where the results harvested in the Polling Units have been entered into the Collation Centers. Woe betides anyone, who will alter the results already transmitted to the INEC election results viewing portal,” Igini stated.
OPPOSITION PARTIES, CSOs BACK INEC
Interestingly, INEC has at every forum reiterated its readiness to deploy the technology as a way of countering alleged moves to shuttle its use, especially as it has legal backing for it. INEC chairman has almost made it an anthem to be sung by declaring that “BVAS has come to stay” and, or “No going back on BVAS.” To this, opposition parties and civil society organisations have thrown their weight behind the electoral umpire’s resolve to use the machine.
The Intraparty Advisory Council, an umbrella body of all the 18 registered political parties in Nigeria, alluded to the development at a recent meeting in Abuja. The IPAC chairman, Yabagi Sani, alleged that efforts were being made in some quarters to stop the use of BVAS in the coming elections.
“To us in IPAC, the real object of the darts of venom being directed at the person of the Chairman and the institution of the INEC are merely a decoy. The real target of the machinations is the circumvention of the deployment of the Bimodal 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 said.
BVAS has a dual capacity for recognizing fingerprint and facial features. It ensures that the person holding the voter’s card and trying to vote is the actual owner by matching these distinct features. In other words, the past debacle of politicians buying voter cards from voters and using them to vote en masse for a particular candidate has been eliminated.
With the deployment of BVAS during the off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun held this year, the technology has gained so much approval that any talk of not using it in 2023 is instantly viewed as support for rigging and manipulative tendencies that have characterized previous electoral exercises.
When, therefore, it was erroneously reported this week that the National Chairman of the APC had expressed reservation about the suitability of the technology for next year’s general elections, there was an instant uproar from the opposition. Of course, the ruling party wasted no time in correcting the wrong impression.
In a statement on Thursday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, clarified that the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, never rejected the use of BVAS and IReV.
Morka said the chairman was misquoted by some segments of the media.
“A section of the media is awash with comments credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV), otherwise known as the electronic transmission of election results, for the 2023 general elections.
“Media reports that Chairman Adamu kicked against INEC’s decision to deploy BVAS and electronic transmission of results is patently false, and constitutes an unfair misrepresentation of the National Chairman’s comments,” he stated.
Clearly, with less than 90 days to the first ballot in the 2023 general elections, the BVAS and its twin IReV will continue to feature in political discourses as they are largely seen as holding the keys to transparent and credible elections, especially, given the sundry allegation by the opposition on attempts being made to ensure it was never used.
