Polls: CSOs Warn against Circumvention of BVAS in Parts of Nigeria

•List states suspected to be riggers’ stronghold

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka and Gideon Arinze in Enugu

A coalition of Civil Society Groups has warned against the circumvention of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) device, or setting aside the use of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in any part of the country.

 The groups in a joint press conference held in Enugu, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must ensure that if the BVAS must be used, it should be for every part of the country, and people without Permanent Voters Card (PVC), should not be allowed to vote.

 Chairman of Board of Trustees of International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, who addressed the conference also listed some of the areas which had been identified for rigging.

 “This is a joint international media conference to highlight 11 critical areas and issues most likely to mar the February 2023 presidential poll and push Nigeria into post-election complex uncertainties.

 “We are calling on INEC to ensure fairness in this election. Every part of the country must be made to use the BVAS if that is what INEC has agreed upon. They must also ensure that the PVC is used in the election in every part of the country too.

“We don’t want a situation where parts of the country will be using the BVAS and PVC, while it will be circumvented in other parts of the country.

 “2023 Presidency is Nigeria’s last chance of getting the country back on the right track or pushing it into intractable complex uncertainties

 “Like in the 2019 presidential poll, the Nigerian Military must be closely monitored and stopped from militarising and terrorising the 2023 presidential poll and paving way for a predetermined outcome.”

Furthermore, he said: “Like in the 2019 Presidential and January 2020 Imo Governorship Supreme Court travesties of justice, the Nigerian Judiciary must be closely monitored and stopped from a disgraceful repeat of the 2019 armada of judicial hara-kiri in the post 2023 presidential polls’ litigations.

‘Dark days of ‘Zainab Bulkachuwa at the Court of Appeal and Muhammed Tanko at the Supreme Court must not be repeated in 2023.”

Speaking about states that should be monitored for possible rigging, the groups alleged that Imo and Ebonyi States were the most dangerous areas for independent and conscientious voters in the East.

 It added that: “Election Day global searchlight and monitoring a must in 12 major presidential poll rigging Northern States of Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa and Niger so as to disallow 18 million ‘dead votes’from being injected by INEC into the Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Poll final results.”