INEC – Bay States News

Why We Reschedule Governorship And State Houses Of Assembly Elections – INEC

Following today’s ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential election held on 25th February 2023, the Commission met to assess its impact on the Commission’s preparations for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, 11th March 2023.

Nigerians would recall that on 3rd March 2023, the Presidential EPT had given an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the Presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country.

The Commission approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the Governorship and State Assembly elections and that the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections. For instance, the BVAS can only be activated on the specific date and time of an election.

Having been used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on 25th February 2023, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

While the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the Commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded. Consequently, the Commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18th March 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday 16th March 2023 i.e. 24 hours before the new date for the election.

This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on 25th February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Card Readers. However, we wish to reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials.

Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court. We wish to reassure all political parties and candidates that the data from the Presidential and National Assembly elections will be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

Political parties can apply for Certified True Copies of the backend data of the BVAS. Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access.

We thank Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as we continue to deal with these difficult issues and navigate these challenging times. Barr. Festus Okoye National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee Wednesday 8th March 2023

How INEC Officials Deliberately Deny Us PVC in Borno, ‘Obidiets’, Others Allege

Originally published in The Humanitarian Times

A convergence of aggrieved citizens, including supporters of the Labour Party and other political groupings in Borno state, have on Sunday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of intentionally withholding their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in a grand plot to bar them from voting in the coming elections.

This weighty allegation was coming on the last day the electoral body allowed for the issuance of PVC.

INEC had extended the PVC collection date from January end to Feb.5, 2023, to allow those who are yet to retrieve their voting cards to do so. Despite the deadline elongation, many Nigerians who claimed to have duly registered as voters said they are yet to see their PVCs.

Led by one Ishyaku Yakubu, a senior member of the Obidient movement and card-carrying member of the Labour Party (LP), the group said thousands of registered voters have not been able to receive their PVCs after days of frequenting the collection centers.

The group blamed INEC and its officials for the setback even as they claimed to have copious evidence to prove that some INEC officials have been paid to deny particular categories the right to vote.

The group said the INEC officials were primed to deny them the chance to collect their PVC until the exercise ended.

The INEC has denied this allegation.

But Engineer Yakubu, who was accompanied by a large number of individuals who are yet to collect their PVC, said

“thousands (including myself) who have been going to the INEC offices for collecting their PVCs registered under the most difficult situations and inconvenience are yet to get it.”

“INEC has previously announced to the media that all PVCs are ready for collection and lament how Nigerians are not coming out; meanwhile, we queue up at their offices and ward levels to get PVCs only to be told “your PVC is not ready, come back in 3 days, come back in one week” and stories like that.

“We have reasons to believe there is a sinister plan to disenfranchise thousands of people as there appears to be no reason for holding up the PVCs. We and many others who registered, transferred, and r requested for replacement of lost/damaged cards, particularly last year (2022) between May and July, have not been given their PVCs.

“Today is the final deadline, according to INEC, and people are being asked to go and come back,” he said.

“We have it on record where an INEC staff in charge of issuing PVCs in one of the polling wards saying that those who registered during the last window of registration should forget about voting in 2023; that we should wait till 2027 because they know whom we are going to vote for,” said Yakubu.

INEC Denies Allegations

The Borno REC had, in a phone interview with reporters, denied any alleged plot by INEC to bar registered voters from getting their PVC.

He said those unable to get their PVCs “are among those who engaged in multiple registrations detected and automatically canceled, and so would not get their PVCs based on the Electoral Act 2022.”

“We are not printing the PVCs; the PVCs are being printed in Abuja; this is the reality.”

The REC, who had announced two weeks ago that there were over 161,000 PVC yet to be collected in Borno state, said on Sunday that he is yet to receive an update on the number left uncollected after the one-week extension.

“I’m supposed to get the update on the number of uncollected PVCs by 6 pm today,” he said.

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