Osun Verdict: BVAS Didn’t Fail, But We Have Learnt Our Lessons

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) did not fail during the last Osun State Governorship election.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this yesterday, in an interview with journalists during the monitoring of the mock accreditation exercise at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Recall that the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal sacked Governor Ademola Adeleke for over-voting in over 700 polling units in the governorship election. The tribunal asked INEC to give Certificate of Returns to former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.

But the verdict had since generated controversy as many Nigerians wondered how there was over-voting even with deployment of the BVAS.

Speaking on the matter for the first time, Yakubu who clarified that the BVAS machine was not on trial as insinuated in some quarters, however, said the commission has learnt some lessons from the judgment.

The INEC boss said though it is subjudice to comment on the matter as it is still in court, he assured that the commission would use the lessons learnt from the Osun judgment to improve the process for the election later this month.

Responding to a question on the Tribunal judgment in Osun, Yakubu stated: “The BVAS never failed anywhere and as you have seen here, the machine actually never failed. I wouldn’t like to comment on a live matter in court as it is subjudice, but in every situation, the commission learns and carries the experience from what has happened to improving the processes for the next election. We have learnt some lessons from what happened and one of the lessons is to be able to transmit the accreditation data.

“During this mock exercise, we have assembled result sheets that will transmit the accreditation data, but there is no results sheets here because people have not voted.

“So on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal, we have created a new URL for those of you that are on the IReV portal. And if you go home after 2.30pm, you will see the result of the mock transmitted from the 437 polling units nationwide, including the details of accreditation and we are going to transmit both the results on election day and the accreditation figures so that the two will rhyme.

“We are giving Nigerians assurance that on the election day, both the accredited data and the actual votes cast will be transmitted simultaneously and accurately.”

On the mock accreditation, Yakubu described the process as seamless, saying the commission decided to conduct the exercise to further test the integrity of the machines that would be deployed on election day.