Babatunji Wusu –
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the Kogi governorship election on November 11 was free, fair, and credible, dismissing charges that it tampered with accredited voter statistics.
This was stated by INEC’s National Commissioner and member of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Haruna, in an Abuja statement on Wednesday.
“The INEC’s attention has been drawn to some media reports alleging that it tampered with the accredited figures of voters in the Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.”
“However, these reports are false.”
“The most accurate and up-to-date voter accreditation data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the avoidance of doubt.”
“On election day, BVAS is used to authenticate and accredit registered voters at various polling units.” “It automatically saves all voters’ accreditation data,” he explained.
According to Haruna, the BVAS was meant to work primarily offline, without Internet connectivity, to provide voters with a speedier and more smooth authentication and accreditation experience.
“When the BVAS application is active or in use, the BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the Accreditation Backend System (ABS), depending on the strength of its Internet connection.”
“This data exportation does not occur when the device’s application is inactive or when internet connectivity is inadequate.”
“The same thing happens when more than one BVAS device is used at a polling unit with more than 1,250 registered voters.”
“This could be likened to a scenario wherein inadequate network connectivity impedes the transmission of an SMS between two individuals via a mobile device,” he stated.
According to Haruna, in order to guarantee that all accreditation data is sent to the ABS, presiding officers were supposed to hit the data exporting button on the BVAS at the conclusion of the election.
As fresh data come in to update the current figures, this process—known as synchronization—could cause changes in the accreditation figures.
This serves as the rationale for the disclaimer about the accreditation numbers that is shown on the IReV portal. After the poll closes, the accreditation data on the BVAS cannot be altered.
“The public should disregard the misleading report and misinformation,” he stated in a statement.
