The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has intensified the review of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to ensure that glitches experienced, particularly with the upload of results in the last Saturday elections are rectified before next Saturday’s governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls.
The presidential and National Assembly elections held last Saturday were marred by BVAS malfunction especially in the uploading of results which made exercise disputed.
But Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman at a meeting with States Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Saturday expressed confidence that, going forward the system will run optimally.
Yakubu said the BVAS will once again be deployed for voter accreditation and result management in next weekend polls.
According to him, the deployment of BVAS has gone a long way to sanitise voter accreditation as can be seen from the result of recent elections.
“As we approach the Governorship and State Assembly elections, we must work harder to overcome the challenges experienced in the last election. Nothing else will be acceptable to Nigerians,” the INEC chairman said.
Yakubu said all staff found to be negligent, whether regular or ad-hoc officials, including collation and returning officers, must not be involved in forthcoming elections.
He directed RECs to immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established.
“Election day logistics must be finalised days before the election and handled by the Electoral Officers (EOs) at Local Government level. This has been our standard practice. Centralising the process as was done in some States resulted in delayed deployment of personnel and materials and late commencement of polls.
“RECs will be held responsible for any tardy arrangement or the failure to deploy electric power generators to collation centres or polling units where such facilities are needed. The Commission has enough facilities in all the States of the Federation. Failure to deploy them is simply inexcusable.
“Refresher training must be conducted for ad hoc staff that participated in the last election. Where they are replaced for good reason, they must be properly trained so that processes are not delayed or compromised at any stage.
“Arising from last week’s election, the Commission has received reports from our State offices well as complaints and petitions from political parties and candidates. Where infractions of any kind are proven, there will be redress. I must add that any action taken by the Commission is without prejudice to the rights of parties and candidates to seek further remedy as provided by law,” he said.
Speaking further on the conduct of last weekend elections, Yakubu said the exercise raised a number of issues that require immediate, medium, and long-term solutions.
The INEC chairman said the planning for the election was painstakingly done but its implementation came with challenges, some of which were unforeseen.
He said issues of logistics, election technology, behaviour of some election personnel, attitude of some party agents and supporters added to the extremely challenging environment in which elections are usually held in Nigeria.
“We appreciate the sacrifice and doggedness of Nigerians and the dignity and maturity displayed by political leaders even in the context of divergent views about the election.
“A lot of lessons have been learnt. Of immediate concern to the commission is how the identified challenges can be addressed as we approach the concluding phase of the general election involving the largest number of constituencies i.e. 28 State Governorship elections and 993 State Houses of Assembly seats,” Yakubu said.
He disclosed that winners have also been declared for 423 national legislative seats in the last Saturday elections while supplementary polls will be held in 46 constituencies.
The professor of history said 10th Assembly will be the most diverse since 1999 as seven political parties have won senatorial seats while 325 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives have been won by eight political parties so far.
Accordingly, the All Progressive Congress (APC) have won 57 seats in the Senate; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took 27; Labour Party (LP), six, New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), two each while All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and Young Peoples Party (YPP) won one each.
In the House of Representatives APC won 162 seats; PDP, 102; LP, 34; NNPP, 18; APGA, four; African Democratic Congress (ADC) and SDP, two each while YPP won one seat
Yakubu announced that certificates of return will be presented to senators-elect on Tuesday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, while Members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive theirs the following day (Wednesday) at the same venue.
He expressed appreciation for the patience and understanding of Nigerians, saying INEC does not take this for granted.
“We equally appreciate the patriotism of political, traditional, religious and community leaders that appealed for calm. Similarly, the commission appreciates the role of heads of election observation missions, some of whom are still in the country.
“We appeal to such missions to consider extending their observations to the Governorship and State Assembly elections not only because they form an integral part of the general election for which they are accredited but also because they are as important as the national elections.
“In the same vein, the commission appreciates all domestic observers for their preliminary reports which will help us enormously as we conclude the 2023 general election. We look forward to the full reports.
“We similarly appreciate the media for the extensive coverage of the election and the analyses by informed Nigerians and friends of Nigeria on the processes.
“We wish to assure you that we will continue to engage with you and all segments of the Nigerian society in a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder review of the election in earnest,” Yakubu added.
