CDD Calls for Urgent Measures to Fix Lapses in INEC Mock Accreditation

Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fix the setbacks experienced during the mock accreditation exercise carried out by the Commission at the weekend.

The CDD further expressed worries that observation from its field officials that some voters’ confidence had been dampened over the misconception that the malfunction of the BVAS was responsible for the Election Petition Tribunal judgement, which nullified the victory of the candidate earlier declared by the INEC as winner in the Osun State governorship election conducted in July 2022.

CDD therefore recommended urgent steps by the INEC to address logistic challenges, particularly, the late arrival of poll officials.
The CDD in a report by its Director, Idayat Hassan, said it deployed no less than 111 field observers to monitor the mock accreditation exercise conducted by INEC to test the functionality and reliability of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the February 25 and March 11, 2023 elections.
According to the report, “Based on field observers’ data on the exercise, CDD EAC found instances of late arrival of INEC officials to their respective polling units. In several cases, INEC poll officials had not arrived for commencement of the process by 11:30am, whereas they were supposed to have arrived between 8:00 and 8:30am.”

For instance, the CDD observed that late arrival of poll officials were documented in polling units at Community Primary School, Enugu, Ngwo, where officials arrived at 11am. In Kungana Special Primary School, Suntai, Taraba State, and Polling Unit 002 at Damilu Primary School, Jimeta, observer data indicated that poll officials arrived at 11:30am, three and half hours behind the scheduled time, adding that, late arrival of INEC officials was recorded in much of the 36 states and in 58% of the 111 polling units observed.  

The report stated that although, “observer data shows that the BVAS worked smoothly across the majority of polling units observed, at an average of between 30 seconds and two minutes, the BVAS accredited voters, who showed up for the exercise, observer data recorded isolated instances where the BVAS experienced glitches while trying to capture the finger prints and facial features of elderly voters.”

Similarly, Idayat disclosed that, “Observation of the mock accreditation exercise documented a spate of low turnout of voters for the exercise, adding that, “In several polling units, less than 3 per cent of registered voters turned out to take part in the mock accreditation and voting.
The low turnout, according to the CDD Director, “was traced to low awareness. The poor awareness, and subsequent low turnout made comprehensive assessment of the BVAS impossible.  

“CDD EAC observation indicated dampened confidence of some voters over the misconception that the malfunction of the BVAS was responsible for the Election Petition Tribunal judgement, which nullified the victory of the INEC declared winner in the Osun State Governorship election of July 2022.
“This misconception about the role of the BVAS in the nullification of earlier declared victories would have to be urgently addressed by INEC to prevent voter apathy in the actual elections, come February 25 and March 11, 2023,” he said