TheNewsGuru

Tag: BVAS

  • Panic in Taraba as BVAS, voting materials destroyed by hoodlums

    Panic in Taraba as BVAS, voting materials destroyed by hoodlums

    Voting materials which include Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), and ballot papers, among others, have been destroyed in the Akate ward in Donga local government council of Taraba State.

    Accreditation and voting scheduled to commence at about 8 am were disrupted by hoodlums who attacked polling units spread across the ward.

    Though the hoodlums were said to have been repelled by security operatives, the electorates expressing their franchise in today’s governorship and state House of Assembly elections in the ward were frustrated.

    Gunshots from the hoodlums, who were heavily armed, rang sporadically in the area to prevent the electorates from coming out to vote.

    An Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ad-hoc staff member vowed to withdraw from participating in the exercise, stating that “our security is not even guaranteed.”

    As at the time of filing this report, voting in the 29 polling units of the ward has been put on hold as tension and apprehension have enveloped the area and the council.

    An eyewitness said the hoodlums succeeded in carrying out their nefarious act before the arrival of security operatives.

    The eyewitness, who gave his name as James Chimin, expressed sadness that the much-promised protection by security operatives turned out to be a mirage.

    Aligning their position to that of Chimin, some of the electoral staff, said, ” for now, we don’t see any election taking place in this ward.”

    They urged the authority concerned to wade in by putting all the desired security in the polling units across Donga and the state at large.”

    #

  • BVAS reconfiguration completed for Ondo Assembly election, says INEC

    BVAS reconfiguration completed for Ondo Assembly election, says INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completed the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) for the House of Assembly elections in Ondo.

    Mr Oyekola Oyelami, Acting Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo made this known while addressing newsmen at the premises of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where the distribution of sensitive materials took place.

    Only the house of assembly election would be held on Saturday in Ondo.

    Ondo does not have a governorship election in 2023, because it held its Governorship election in 2020.

    Oyelami said sensitive materials have been distrubted to all the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo.

    He said the materials distributed are ballot papers and result sheets for the election, saying all the registered political parties would be participating in the election.

    ”The BVAS reconfiguration is to ensure that the election is free, fair, credible and transparent.

    “There is going to be early deployment of materials in all our polling units as well as INEC officials in Ondo.

    “We are working hard to ensure that the achievement recorded during the Feb. 25 election will be surpassed as far as this election is concerned,” he said.

    The acting REC, who called on voters to cooperate with the officials of INEC.

    He said adequate arrangements had been put in place in all the polling units, collation centres, as well as returning centres, either in the riverine or upland area of the state.

    Also speaking, Mr Adesanya Olaoluwa, state Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) commended INEC for the early distribution of sensitive materials in the state.

    Olaoluwa, who is also the state chairman of Action Peoples Party (APP), said that IPAC was happy with the commission over the presidential and national assembly election.

    He said he was confident that INEC would conduct a free and fair election.

  • BVAS palaver: Obi’s lawyers continue inspection of election materials, examine 11,000 pages of backend report

    BVAS palaver: Obi’s lawyers continue inspection of election materials, examine 11,000 pages of backend report

    Lawyers of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, since Monday, have been inspecting the election materials used for the February 25 presidential election as directed by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

    This is just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and backend report of over 11,000 pages was being finalised and would be made available to the lawyers.

    The commission said the February 25 result sheets and ballot papers were in the various states, not at the INEC headquarters, Abuja.

    The LP’s lawyers as well as their People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) counterparts had met with the Independent National Electoral Commission’s lawyers in Abuja Tuesday

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had granted the requests of PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; LP’s Obi’s and that of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC to inspect the election materials used during the presidential poll.

    A report submitted on Tuesday to INEC by the three parties’ lawyers indicated that the LP’s team began the inspection on Monday.

    Speaking on behalf of INEC’s lawyers, Tanimu Inuwa, SAN, said the commission had forms Ec8d (summary of results) of each state and FCT, Ec8da (national summary) and Ec8a.
    He said the BVAS and backend report of over 11,000 pages was being finalised and that the result sheets and ballot papers were in the various states, not at the INEC headquarters.

    He suggested that a timeline for visitation for all parties be made for ease and the persons appointed to inspect be limited.

  • Presidential Election: About 170,000 polling units results have been uploaded on IRev – INEC

    Presidential Election: About 170,000 polling units results have been uploaded on IRev – INEC

    The National Commissioner and Chairman,  Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that over 170,000 polling unit results of the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly elections have been uploaded on its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

    Okoye also revealed that the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) would be completed by Tuesday, March 14, in preparation for the March 18 governorship and state Assembly elections.

    He made this known while featuring on a political programme on Channels Television

    According to him, no political party will be given permission to look into the brain of the BVAS used for voter accreditation and electronic transmission of votes.

    Okoye said, “As of the last time, over 170,000 of those results have been uploaded.

    “In fact, the BVAS will not allow itself to be reconfigured or reset if the entire data isn’t pushed to the accreditation backend.

    “I am sure that by Tuesday when we hope to complete the resettling of the BVAS for the purposes of the governorship and state assembly elections, the results in all the places where elections were conducted would’ve been pushed to the accreditation backend.”

  • INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu threatens PDP with legal action

    INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu threatens PDP with legal action

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to desist from making libelous allegations against the person of its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, gave  the advice on Friday in Abuja, while responding to PDP’s demand on Yakubu to resign from his position.

    Oyekanmi said that the latest call by the PDP, just like it did previously for the resignation of Yakubu as Chairman of INEC was misplaced.

    “Interestingly, the PDP did not provide any convincing evidence to back up all the spurious allegations it listed as Yakubu’s “infractions”.

    “To be sure, the PDP failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the allegations of Yakubu’s “brazen violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines, and criminal manipulation and alteration of election results”.

    “The PDP also did not give the evidence to prove its claims that Prof. Yakubu “sabotaged the uploading and transmission of results from polling units,” he said.

    Oyekanmi said that besides, the “several evidences” that the PDP claimed “abound in the six geo-political zones of the country where winning figures scored by the PDP were switched in favour of the APC” were also not laid bare.

    “To be sure, INEC does not rig elections. Rather, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has, since its introduction, among other innovations, ensured the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring that only properly registered voters are allowed to vote on election day.”

    Oyekanmi advised the PDP to toe the part of honour and pursue it case in court.

    “It is common knowledge that the PDP has rejected the outcome of the presidential election and has vowed to challenge it in court.

    “The path of honour for the party, therefore, is to pursue its case in court, armed with all the evidences at its disposal and wait for the court’s decision.

    ”But going about canvassing the same issues the party intends to plead in court on the pages of newspapers and calling for the resignation of the INEC Chairman is like putting the cart before the horse.

    “More importantly, the PDP is hereby reminded that making libelous allegations against the person of the INEC Chairman is actionable. The party should henceforth desist from the practice,” Oyekanmi said.

    The PDP had earlier demanded the resignation of Yakubu.

    The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, addressing a press conference in Abuja said that the PDP had further reviewed the conduct of Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Ologunagba alleged that the elections were conducted in violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and the results were manipulated to subvert the will of Nigerians.

    He said PDP had reviewed the move by INEC to reconfigure the BVAS, erase and destroy evidence of the Presidential election.

    He said the action was aimed at denying Nigerians and political parties, especially PDP and its candidate access to relevant information required to prosecute it case at the Presidential Election Tribunal.

    Ologunagba called on Inspector General of Police and Director General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) to immediately commence investigations into alleged electoral violations and manipulations by INEC.

    He also called the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate allegations that certain top officials of INEC were heavily compromised financially to manipulate the electoral process.

  • Court orders INEC to allow use of TVC in March 18 election

    Court orders INEC to allow use of TVC in March 18 election

    The Federal High Court, Abuja on Thursday,  ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to allow the use of Temporary Voter Cards, (TVC) in the March 18 governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

    Justice Obiora Egwuatu made the order while delivering judgment in  a suit filed by two aggrieved Nigerians seeking the use of TVCs in the general elections in the absence of the Permanent Voter Cards, (PVCs).

    Justice Egwuatu said that the order was made on the grounds that the plaintiffs were duly registered and captured in INEC’S database.

    “An order is made compelling the defendant  (INEC) to allow the plaintiffs to vote using their Temporary Voter Cards issued by the defendant, the plaintiffs having been duly captured in the National Register of Voter’s database.

    ”A declaration is made by this court that the plaintiffs, having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in the defendant’s (INEC’s) central database and manual, printed paper based record or hard copy format of the defendant’s maintained Register of Voters, the plaintiffs  are entitled to vote using their Temporary Voter Cards in the  forthcoming 2023 General Election,” the judge said.

    The judge however, said that he was unable to grant prayer three which was to allow every eligible voter with a TVC to vote because the suit was not filed in a representative capacity.

    “This suit having not been brought in a representative capacity, I find myself unable to grant any relief pursuant to prayer three of the plaintiffs application.”

    The court held that there was no portion of the law, both the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act that states that it is only PVCs that could be used, but that the law under Section 47 provided for a voter’s card.

    Speaking to newsmen,  counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr Victor Opatola said that the judgment was a win for all Nigerians who suffered to get registered to vote, were duly registered but due to no fault of theirs could not get their PVCs before the election.

    According to Opatola, since my clients had fulfilled all necessary requirements by law but were not issued their PVCs until the time for collection of PVCs was over, they should not be allowed to suffer.

    The lawyer also said that it was the law of equity that what applied to the goose should also apply to the gander.

    “So what the court is saying is that these two people who have fulfilled all necessary requirements can vote with their TVCs, then by law of equity, it should also apply to all Nigerians who have fulfilled all necessary requirements and were issued TVCs by INEC.”

    He maintained that this should be so because the content of the TVC was the same as the content of the  PVC and the only difference was the plastic used for the PVC.

    The judgment, having been delivered, is biding on INEC and enforceable barring any appeal. INEC had repeatedly held that only eligible voters with the PVCs would be allowed to vote in the 2023 presidential, governorship and parliamentary elections.

    However, the plaintiffs, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell in the suit filed on Feb. 8 and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/180/2023, challenged the position of INEC and  asked the court to determine “Whether by the true construction and interpretation of section 10(2), 12(1) and 47 of the Electoral Act 2022; Section 77(2) and 132(5) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), and bearing in mind that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine introduced by INEC only needs the thumbprint and/or facial recognition to accredit a voter;

    “Whether a person whose name appears in the electronic format in  INEC’s central database and manual, printed paper based record or hard copy format of the register of voters and has been assigned a Voter’s Identification Number (VIN), can be said to be entitled to be accredited to vote with his/her TVC in the general election to be conducted by the defendant.

    “Whether such a person can, as a consequence of the defendant’s inabilities, actions and omission be disenfranchised of the right and entitlement to vote in the 2023 general election.

    The plaintiffs asked the court to grant the following reliefs should the questions be answered in their favour.

    “A declaration that the plaintiff, having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in it’s central database and manual, printed paper based record or hard copy format of INEC’s maintained register of voters, the plaintiff are entitled to vote using their TVC in the 2023 General Elections.

    “An order compelling INEC to allow the plaintiff to vote using the TVC issued by INEC, the plaintiff having been duly captured in the national register of voter’s database.

    “Any other order, the court may deem fit for all other Nigerians who are like the plaintiffs and have not gotten their permanent voter’s card, as the court may deem fit.

  • CSOs To INEC: Fix BVAS, bar corrupt officials from governorship, State Assembly polls

    CSOs To INEC: Fix BVAS, bar corrupt officials from governorship, State Assembly polls

    Ahead of governorship and state assembly elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged to fix all glitches that previously affected the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the results viewing portal, logistics; and prevent corrupt personnel from being part of the exercise.

    INEC had scheduled governorship and state assembly elections for March 11 but announced the postponement of the polls to March 18, 2023, after the court granted the Commission leave to re-configuration BVAS machines used for the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Civil Society Organisations, Center for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and NESSACTION made the call during PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, an anti-corruption radio programme produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.

    Different observer groups reported widespread malfunctioning of the INEC Result Viewing portal (IREV), which hindered the real-time transmission of results on election day. There were also reports of voter intimidation, snatching and destruction of voting materials, among other issues.

    Speaking during the radio programme, Executive Director, NESSACTION, Amb. Eniola Cole stated that the conduct of the February 25 presidential election failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians due to issues with the IREV, political infractions and the integrity of INEC officials.

    Cole stressed that INEC must prioritize tackling logistics challenges on election day, noting that the late arrival of election materials during the presidential election spiralled into other challenges that cast doubt on the integrity of the polls. While calling on citizens to ‘cut INEC some slag’ as the 2023 general elections were the first time the election umpire was deploying technology nationally.

    She called on Nigerians, especially young people, not to relent in participating in the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections despite dissatisfaction with the conduct of presidential polls.

    “On the issue of the IREV, nobody’s expectation was met because they did not deliver. But the question is, is the IREV the only yardstick for determining whether an election was credible? This was a first-time test nationwide. Why is the success or failure of the entire election laid only on the IREV? For the BVAs, the locations we observed, I’m yet to see any of our reports say otherwise.

    “Honestly, I think Nigerians should cut them (INEC) some slack. Let’s be careful. We have seen progress. Let us trust and see what they will deliver.
    “Another thing that could bring credibility to the process is to enhance what is required. A national stress test was not done on the IREV.

    “The integrity of poll officials also comes from political infractions. Somebody that receives bribes should face the penalty, but why are politicians going out to bribe INEC officials? Can that also should be addressed,” Cole lamented.

    On his part, Research Officer at the Center for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Humphery Eze Ukeaja, called on INEC to learn from their mistakes and recover public trust by ensuring punishment is meted out to all officials that were part of the irregularities that marred the 2023 presidential elections. As well as fix glitches from BVAS, IREV and security.

    Ukeaja urged all Nigerians to come out and vote despite their unhappiness with the election process.
    “INEC must learn from the mistakes of what happened in the 25th February presidential election. Reports are all over for them to read; security and logistics, the BVAS issues should be addressed purely going into state elections.

    “When we talk about renewing trust on the part of INEC, we have to see actions. We have to see heads roll. We have to see people being penalized for us to regain their trust because most of them participated in the malpractice.

    “Someone has to pay for the malpractices. To be sincere, the level of apathy might show in the March elections, but the wounds are still fresh. It will take a little bit of a medium-term to a long-term effort to bring people back,” Ukeaja stressed.

    INEC continues to face criticisms from CSOs, and foreign and local observers since it announced the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election.

    Earlier on Wednesday, London-based independent policy institute Chatham House released an analysis of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections and faulted the Prof. Yakubu-led Commission for being ill-prepared and jettisoning its guidelines.
    Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program used by PRIMORG to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

    The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

  • INEC extends campaign deadline for political parties

    INEC extends campaign deadline for political parties

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended political parties’ campaigns for the Governorship and State Assembly elections from 9th March to midnight of Thursday 16th March, following the postponement of the elections.

    In a statement titled: “Rescheduling of Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Election” signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye, on Wednesday, INEC said the decision was in line with an earlier guideline for campaigns to end 24 hours before election day.

    It would be recalled that the Presidential Election Tribunal (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 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used during the election.

    But the Commission approached the Court to reconsider the order, arguing that the BVAS systems were to be deployed for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

    INEC told the Tribunal that the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt its ability to conduct the outstanding elections.

    “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,” INEC said.

    The Court, however, rejected INEC’s application to vary the opposition party’s access to election materials and ordered the Commission to allow the Applicants to inspect all the electoral materials and to carry out electronic scanning and/or make photocopies of Voter Registration and Ballot Papers used for the presidential election.

    INEC had assured it would backup the accreditation data contained in the BVAS systems and would make same available to all applicants.

    It further granted them leave to conduct a Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the election, adding that INEC should furnish them with the Certified True Copy, CTC, of the result of the inspection.

    “The Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials…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,” Okoye assured.

  • Court refuses Obi’s request to scan election materials

    Court refuses Obi’s request to scan election materials

    The Appeal court on Wednesday refused to grant Mr. Peter Obi’s application scan and make copies of the election materials from INEC ‘s database.

    The three-member panel held that granting the order sought by obi will hamper the elections slated for Saturday.

    The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel faulted Obi and the Labour Party (LP) for repeating their request to be allowed to scan and make copies of the electoral materials in INEC’s possession.

    The court held that granting the order will amount to tying down the hands of the electoral body and preventing it from carrying out the functions assigned to it by the 1999 constitution

    The court ordered INEC on March 3 to allow the applicants to inspect and carry out digital forensic examination of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the elections.

    Also  to avail them the Certified True Copy, CTC, of result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

    The panel held that the request was earlier granted, adding that repeating the prayer amounted to an abuse of court process.

    INEC had insisted that the reconfiguration of the BVAS was necessary since they would be deployed for the next round of elections on Saturday.

    The commission added that without a prompt variation of the order the court earlier granted to Obi and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, especially the aspect restraining it from tampering with information contained in the BVAS.

    It would be difficult for it to proceed with the scheduled elections INEC added.

    Obi and his party had in their application marked: CA/PEC/09m/23, sought permission to be allowed to conduct physical inspection of all the BVAS that were used for the presidential poll.

    The applicants, through their team of lawyers led by Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, said the essence of the application was to enable them to extract data embedded in the BVAS, “which represent the actual results from Polling Units.”

    They specifically applied for; “leave to carryout digital forensic and physical inspection of BVAS, among others ”, as well as to obtain the Certified True Copy, CTC, of all the data in the BVAS.”

    While opposing the application, INEC through its lawyer,  Tanimu Inuwa, SAN told the court that there were a total of 176,000 BVAS that were deployed to polling units during the presidential election.

    “Each polling unit has its own particular BVAS machine which will need to be reconfigured for the forthcoming elections.

    “It will be very difficult for us, within the period, to reconfigure the 176, 000 BVAS.

    “We have already stated in our affidavit that no information in the BVAS will be lost.

    “We need the BVAS reconfigured.

    ” So, granting this application will be a cog in the process and may delay the conduct of the elections” Inuwa pleaded.

  • Why we postponed Governorship, State Assembly elections – INEC

    Why we postponed Governorship, State Assembly elections – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday rescheduled Governorship and State House of Assembly elections earlier fixed for March 11 to March 18.

    The commission announced this in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, in Abuja on Wednesday night.

    Okoye said that the decision was necessary to ensure adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices used for the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, and then reconfigure them for the governorship and state assembly polls.

    Okoye said following Wednesday ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the BVAS used for the Presidential election, INEC met to assess its impact on the commission’s preparations for the state elections scheduled for March 11.

    He recalled that on March 3, the EPT gave 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.

    He explained that INEC approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the state elections.

    He said the action was also necessary given 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 Feb. 25, 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 March 18,” the statement read in part.

    Okoye said that by the decision, campaigns would continue until midnight of Thursday (March 16); that is 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 Feb. 25 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,” he asserted.

    Okoye reiterated that INEC was 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.”

    He assured all political parties and candidates that the data from the Presidential and National Assembly elections would 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.”

    Okoye appreciated all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as INEC continue to deal with those difficult issues and navigate these challenging times.