Some politicians, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are allegedly attempting to clone the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) hardware.
Festus Okoye, chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, appeared live on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday to address concerns about the risk of over-voting and compromising of BVAS.
Okoye’s remarks follow the recent Osun State Governorship Victory Petitions Tribunal ruling invalidated Governor Ademola Adeleke’s election due to overvoting.
“Some of these concerns are unfounded. People are simply bringing difficulties into the mix to ensure that we expose the full and complete capabilities of the BVAS,” he stated.
“Certain politicians want us to open the brain of the BVAS [machine] so they can study how it operates and determine if they can clone or control it, but the commission will not allow this.
“Democracy can only be safeguarded by a vigilant populace, and the law has granted political parties the authority and right to send their polling agents to all polling units in Nigeria and all collation centres.”
Okoye remarked that stakeholders are provided access to watch the entire electoral process in order to verify that no foreign materials causing overvoting are placed in ballot boxes on election day.
“Our BVAS is a really sturdy device – a very sturdy instrument in which we have faith. We feel that it is the final arbiter for those who wish to corrupt the process.
“I believe Nigerians should have confidence in the BVAS. It is sturdy and will be a game-changer in the general elections in 2023, said the INEC representative.