The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body responsible for co-ordinating elections in Nigeria, announced that the governorship and state houses of assembly elections have been postponed by one week due to Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) reconfiguration.
According to INEC’s press release pasted on its Twitter page, the shift was to accommodate the reconfiguration of the BVAS used for the elections. Barrister Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, said that the commission needed adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on the 25th of February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
The statement reads:
“Following today’s ruling by the Presidential election Petition Tribunal on the reconfiguration of the Binodal Voter Accreditation System 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 of 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.”
The BVAS was first used in Nigeria in the Isoko South Constituency 1 bye-election in Delta State on 10 September, 2021. However the first major use was for the 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election which took place on 6 November 2021.
