Address BVAS flaws prior to the governor and assembly elections, NBA instructs INEC

In its interim assessment on the presidential and national assembly elections, the Nigerian Bar Association noted a number of irregularities, including substantial instances of vote-buying, vote-snatching, and destruction of voting materials.

The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines have flaws or glitches, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rectify them before the March 11 gubernatorial and state assembly elections.

The Bar further requested that INEC disqualify its collation and returning officers from the next elections in light of their documented malfeasance during the elections on February 25.

In an interim report made public on Tuesday, NBA National Publicity Secretary Akorede Lawal made this claim.

Almost a thousand INEC-accredited observers from the 128 branches of the bar were sent by the NBA to monitor the elections on February 25.

“In general, the NBA Observers reported some satisfaction with how the election on February 25, 2023 was conducted, but they also noted significant issues that need to be resolved for future elections.

“These include the late arrival of INEC officials and ballot materials at the polling stations, malfunctioning BVAS machines, limited or non-transmission of the results from the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), insecurity at some polling units, including violent attacks on voters and officials, voter intimidation, snatching and destruction of voting materials, significant cases of vote-buying, and limited access facilities for people with disabilities,”

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In general, the results of the observation process “revealed that just a quarter of the electorate were superbly impressed with the conduct of the ballots (27.1%) while majority of the voters (64.6%) were somewhat content, and only 8.2% rated the election poor or very poor.

“In light of these observations and in anticipation of the upcoming Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for March 11, 2023, the NBA implores INEC to make sure that all BVAS machine bugs and other election technology glitches are fixed and improved, and that INEC staff members (including collation and returning officers) with documented cases of misconduct in the February 25, 2023 election are barred from participating in the March 11, 2023 election.

“The Inspector General of Police is also advised to make sure that the police officers assigned to duty for the elections on March 11th 2023 are deployed in a timely manner. The Electoral Act must be upheld at all times, thus political parties are recommended to inform their supporters and members of this.

The NBA also praised Nigerians for their tenacity and endurance in performing their civic duty during the presidential and national assembly elections and urged people to exhibit the same principles and resolve during the next governorship and state house of assembly elections.