The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has maintained that there was no going back on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for the 2023 polls and beyond.
INEC Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said, BVAS and IReV had been introduced for the purpose of guaranteeing transparent accreditation and uploading of polling unit results for citizens to view in real-time on election day.
The INEC chairman who made this known during the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room Stakeholders forum in Abuja, also explained that the commission had cleaned up the voters’ register and the number of eligible voters is now standing at 93,522,272.
“As you are aware, the election is just 93 days away, I wish to reassure Nigerians that the BVAS has come to stay as the only means of voter accreditation. Results from polling units will be uploaded to the IReV portal in real-time. Nigerians will view the results as they are uploaded.”
“The Commission will tomorrow Thursday 24th November 2022 publish a summary of the guidelines on finances and election expenses of parties and candidates. Beyond that, we are mobilising every national institution with the responsibility for tracking and combating the illicit flow of funds”
“We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission will soon release the procedure for the collection of PVCs.
The Commission considered it appropriate to conclude the process so that the cards will not be in the hands of ineligible registrants who may attempt to use them during the election”. Prof Yakubu said.
Convener of the CSOs Situation Room Ms Ene Obi, who decried the rate of election malpractices in the past, suggested the protection of the secrecy of the ballot as a means to curb vote trading during election.
“Nigeria is currently grappling with multiple security challenges across the country. We also witnessed the most monetized political primaries ever in the just concluded political party primaries for the 2023 general elections. What do these all portend for the 2023 General election? “
“We are calling on citizens, INEC and other electoral umpires to stand upright for Nigeria in the coming election, no vote trading, we all must decide on having a better Nigeria we all dream of”. Ms Obi stressed.
Speaking on election security, ACP Onaghise Osayande, representing the IGP Usman Baba, said the Nigeria Police force had commenced training of officers selected from the 36 States to ensure a hitch Free polls in the country.