The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a statement by its National Commissioner and member of, the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, in Abuja, said that the Nov. 11 governorship election held in Kogi was free, fair and credible, faulting claims that it tampered with the accredited figures of voters in the election.
The statement reads: “The attention of INEC has been drawn to some media reports alleging it tampered with the accredited figures of voters in Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
“However, these reports are unfounded. For the avoidance of doubt, the most accurate and up-to-date voters’ accreditation data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
“BVAS is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day. It automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters”, he said.
Haruna, however, maintained that BVAS was designed to primarily work offline without Internet connectivity, which facilitates faster and seamless authentication and accreditation experience for voters.
He further said that at the close of the poll, presiding officers were expected to press the data exportation button on the BVAS to ensure that all the accreditation data are exported to the ABS.
“This process, referred to as ongoing synchronisation, could lead to changes in the accreditation figures as more data flows in to update the existing figures. This is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures. The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of the poll.
“The public should disregard the misleading report and misinformation”, he further stated.
Recall that on November 12, reported how the INEC Returning Officer and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Johnson Urama, declared the candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Usman Ododo, as the winner of Saturday’s Governorship election in Kogi State.
