Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has noted that with the electronic transmission of results and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for accreditation which will make it impossible to alter results at collation centres, desperate politicians may focus on perpetrating violence at polling units to scuttle the process of voting.
Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, Chairman of the commission stated this during a town hall meeting organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Abuja on Thursday.
Represented by the INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, Yakubu called on the media and Nigerians to ensure that the plans of unscrupulous politicians are exposed.
The INEC chairman said the BVAS technology, which witnessed some hitches in the FCT council poll and the Anambra State governorship election, performed optimally in the six by-elections that took place in Imo, Plateau, Cross River and Ondo States recently.
He said this indicated that the commission had improved election technology and this would go a long way in forestalling electoral malpractice.
Yakubu further stated that with the introduction of BVAS, the era of politicians stockpiling Permanent Voters Cards in order to use them on election day was over.
He said, “The BVAS no longer allows identity theft. It no longer allows those who have warehoused PVCs to use them on election day. Violence has now returned to our polling units and has left the collation centres.
“So, the politicians are now targeting the polling units because they know that the moment the election is over, we upload the polling unit results to our result viewing portal from the polling units. So, they have found that going to the collation centre to disrupt collation is no longer a good idea. They have now returned violence to the polling units.”
The INEC boss also noted that based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC will no longer receive fresh applications for party registration until after the 2023 elections.
He said insecurity remained the biggest threat to the conduct of the elections.
Okoye further explained that Internally Displaced Persons who had left their states would not be able to vote unless they remain within the state or constituency where they registered to vote
He added, “The insecurity in several parts of the country and the increasing number of IDPs will pose the biggest challenge to the conduct of elections in 2023.
“Many of the IDPs are in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their PVCs and it is next to impossible to create their constituencies and their polling units.