The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appeal to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, for an order to reconfigure the BVAS ahead of the governorship and assembly elections slated for Saturday March 11, 2023 is questionable.
INEC's application became necessary following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies (CTC) issued to the applicants.
The electoral body's decision to approach the Court, for an order varying the permission the court had previously granted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) to inspect materials used by the commission in the conduct of the February 25 presidential election calls for integrity question.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as it stands is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters was Yakubu Mamood's led INEC idea for a transparent and credible election.
The BVAS serves two main function. It captures the face of a voter. And what this means is that you can tell the number of people that voted at a polling unit.
Second, is that signed election results entered into the system after votes are counted in the presence of party agents and and security personnel, is captured by the BVAS and is immediately transmitted to INEC office to give no room to rigging.
The electoral body had assured Nigerians on numerous occasions and at different fora that the BVAS technology is the best thing that will offer a credible 2023 general elections.
Eager voters sees theB VAS as a game-changer in Nigeria’s electoral system because of its design to eliminate electoral malpractices
Granting INEC the order would allow the commission tampering with the evidence. The danger of this is that it would compromise the pending litigations on the controversial election and further worsen the credibility of the entire process.
Why is INEC trying to reset a computer system that was supposed to be efficient for the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
The question is why now. Has the technology been faulty before now. The electoral body never mentioned that. And that means all is well with the B.
Would reconfiguring the BVAS give more room to INEC's incompetence, rigging or offer Nigeria a near credible election.
Pre and posts independence the best that Nigeria and the outside world could ever say to be a free and fair election in Nigeria was the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Moshood Abiola. Yet that election was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida led junta for no tangent reason than primordial inclination.
An election conducted with no technology. An election that recorded no rigging nor violence.
Fast forward to February 25, 2023, almost 30 years Nigeria still grapples with nagging electoral issues.
After the June 12, 1993 election debacle Nigeria keep steeping down the valley of mess with each election.
Going by the electoral act amendment and with the introduction of the BVAS hope was rekindled in the electoral process.
The ignited hope by INEC"s assurance for a credible election led to INEC registering 90 million Nigerians for the general elections. Going by the election voters turnout was unprecedented.
In the age of technology where an electoral body that is effective and impartial is at work there should be no questions on the integrity of the electoral body.
The same BVAS technology was used by INEC for the conduct of gubernatorial elections in Edo, Ondo and Osun States and declared effective for the 2023 general elections.
Up till February 24, 2023, INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mamood maintained effectiveness of the BVAS and that election results from the polling units would be uploaded into system and transmitted to INEC's collating centres.
Due application of the BVAS technology would have reduced rigging errors to zero. Rather than INEC doing the right thing it went back door to conduct a serious national assignment by deliberately and intentionally refusing to use the BVAS to upload election results.
INEC lacks integrity by manually conducting the presidential election. INEC's action is dampening election interest in the country.
Whether the court grants INEC the permission to reconfigure the BVAS or not the commission utterly failed in its responsibility, suggesting it wasn't impartial.
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