By John Dike, Osogbo
“From what I have seen in Obokun and Egbedore local government areas, I am satisfied that the BVAS is working. The initial problem we encountered had to do with some old voter cards. Once the complaint was made, our technical team immediately addressed it. As you have seen, the old cards are now working, while the new cards have been working without issues.”
These were the words of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, on Saturday after inspecting the ongoing mock accreditation exercise.
In his determination to ensure the smooth operation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the August 15 Osun State governorship election, he had toured several polling units across the state to monitor the ongoing mock accreditation exercise.
He began his inspection at Polling Unit 1, Ward 1, located at St. Peter’s Primary School, Post Office, Ibokun, in Obokun Local Government Area, where he observed the performance of the BVAS machines and interacted with voters as well as election officials.
During the visit, Amupitan directed INEC officials to give priority attention to elderly voters participating in the exercise. One of those attended to was 70-year-old Mr. James Oyewole, who was successfully accredited without any difficulty.
The chairman also engaged ad-hoc staff to assess their experience with the accreditation process and identify any operational challenges encountered during the exercise.
The officials informed him that the BVAS devices were functioning efficiently, explaining that the machines captured voters’ facial biometrics within about one minute, particularly for those using the newly issued Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
They added that no major technical issues had been recorded at the polling unit.
Satisfied with the process, Amupitan commended the ad-hoc staff for their professionalism and urged them to maintain the same standard during the August 15 governorship election.
He reminded all election officials to report to their assigned polling units by 7:00 a.m. on election day to enable adequate preparations before voting begins at 8:30 a.m.
The INEC chairman later visited polling units in Okinni, Ifetedo and Olorunsogo in Egbedore Local Government Area to further assess the performance of the BVAS devices during the mock accreditation exercise.
At Olorunsogo Polling Unit 4, some voters initially complained that the BVAS machine experienced a temporary malfunction, causing a brief delay in the accreditation process. However, the technical issue was promptly resolved by INEC officials, after which the device resumed normal operation.
Speaking with journalists, one of the voters, Mr. Ayodele Samuel Abiodun, commended the commission for its swift intervention.
“The BVAS was not working well at first, but the officials quickly fixed the problem and accreditation continued without further delay. We appreciate INEC for responding promptly,” he said.
It was observed that both the old and newly issued Permanent Voter Cards were successfully authenticated by the BVAS after the temporary technical issue was resolved, allowing eligible voters to complete the accreditation process without further difficulty.
Speaking after inspecting four polling units, Amupitan expressed satisfaction with the performance of the BVAS devices and said the mock accreditation had achieved its objective.
“So far, we have gone to four polling units and my assessment is that we are happy the machines are working ahead of the election. This is a mock accreditation and the essence of the exercise is to ensure that our BVAS functions properly on election day.
“From what I have seen in Obokun and Egbedore local government areas, I am satisfied that the BVAS is working. The initial problem we encountered had to do with some old voter cards. Once the complaint was made, our technical team immediately addressed it. As you have seen, the old cards are now working, while the new cards have been working without issues.
“That is the essence of this mock accreditation—to identify and solve any possible challenges before election day. Our ICT Director has confirmed that the issue has been permanently resolved.”
The INEC chairman said the commission was confident that the accreditation process would run smoothly on election day.
“I have come personally to ensure that the BVAS machines are in proper working condition. I am confident that voters can come out to exercise their civic responsibility. From the first voter to the last person on the queue, they should not experience any accreditation problem,” he said.
Addressing questions on the collection of Permanent Voter Cards, Amupitan clarified that PVCs are distributed only at ward and local government offices and not at polling units.
“You collect your PVC at the ward level. We do not distribute PVCs at polling units, so those who are yet to collect theirs still have the opportunity to do so at their respective local government offices,” he explained.
On concerns over stolen Permanent Voter Cards, the INEC chairman assured residents that the commission had taken adequate measures to prevent their misuse.
“We have intensified voter education and introduced the technology that allows eligible voters to use downloadable PVCs. Ordinarily, downloadable PVCs are only meant for voters who had previously collected their cards but later lost them, misplaced them, or had them damaged.
“However, because of the peculiar situation in Osun State, we have made a special arrangement to allow the use of downloadable PVCs. More importantly, all the PVCs that were reported stolen have been disabled and cannot be used for accreditation,” he stated.
Responding to concerns over the electronic transmission of election results following reports from the recent Ekiti governorship election, Amupitan maintained that the BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) remained reliable.
“Even by 7:00 p.m. on election day in Ekiti, over 94 per cent of the election results had already been transmitted. Where results were not transmitted, it was because officials were unable to reconcile the figures. If reconciliation cannot be completed, it simply means there is an issue with that particular result.
“What we have introduced into the BVAS system is that if a result is not properly reconciled, it will not be uploaded to the IReV portal. That is part of the safeguards we have put in place to protect the integrity of the electoral process,” he said.
The mock accreditation exercise forms part of INEC’s final preparations for the August 15 Osun State governorship election.
The exercise is designed to test the functionality of the BVAS devices under real voting conditions, identify and resolve possible technical issues, and strengthen public confidence in the credibility of the electoral process.
