…Tells parties ,candidates to eschew violence
Abubakar Yunusa Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said it will not reverse its decision to use Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for the 2023 general elections.
INEC chairman, Mahmud Yakubu, said in a statement on Wednesday that the introduction of BVAS and IReV, a technology to upload election results in real time, was to ensure a free, fair and credible election.
It’s 100 days until the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 25 February. The Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold two weeks later on 11 March.
There were alleged moves recently by some political actors to prevail on INEC to drop BVAS and return to the use of incident forms in the accreditation of voters in the coming elections.
The use of the incident forms was stopped following the introduction of the BVAS machine.
But Mr Yakubu said the decision to use the device and IReV has come to stay.
“As I have said repeatedly, the Commission owes it’s allegiance is to Nigerians. Our loyalty is to Nigerians who want free, fair, credible and verifiable elections supported by technology, which guarantees transparent accreditation and upload of polling unit results for citizens to view in real-time on election day.
“It is for these reasons that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were introduced. There is no going back on the deployment of BVAS and IReV for the 2023 General Election,” Mr Yakubu said.
The INEC chairman said the commission would in a couple of weeks begin to hold media briefings bi-weekly to update Nigerians on the progress being made in preparing for the general election.
In the week leading to the election, the commission would hold a daily briefing, he added.
“Similarly, we will continue with our regular engagement with political parties, civil society organisations, the media and other critical stakeholders.
Above all, Nigerians deserve the right to know about the progress we are making and the challenges (if any) we confront in our preparations for the General Election,” said Mr Yakubu.
He also reiterated the calls for Nigerians to review the voter register “for claims and objections, as well as collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).”
The INEC boss also appealed to all stakeholders involved in the election process to play their part diligently so “we can have the elections that Nigerians yearn for, and which the world expects from us”.
“I also call on political parties and political leaders to conduct their campaigns peacefully, eschewing divisiveness, rancour and violence,” he said.
