The electoral umpire in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says there is no going back on the deployment of the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), meant to enhance the crediblity of the forthcoming 2023 general election across the country.
The newly posted Kano State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Zango Abdu, stated this during a stakeholders’ meeting held in Kano state, North-Western Nigeria, as part of preparations towards the 2023 general elections.
He said the BVAS was designed for use during voters’ accreditation and transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IreV) on election days, stressing that the new system will ensure a free, fair, transparent and credible elections in the 2023 general elections.
According to him, there would be no use of incident forms that would enable eligible persons to vote using other people’s Permanent Voter’s Card during the elections.
“There is no going back on the INEC Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). Similarly, there will be no use of incident forms,” he emphasized.
He said during the continuous voters’ registration excercise, over 12 million Nigerians registered as new voters.
He said during the continuous voters’ registration excercise, over 12 million Nigerians registered as new voters.
However, after a clean-up of the data, a total of 2,780,756 representing 22.6 per cent of those on the list were identified as ineligible voters.
“The registrations were invalidated on account of irregularities such as double registration, underaged voters and fake registration,”he explained.
He added that the total number of valid registration for Kano state in preparation for the 2023 general elections now stands at 5,927, 565, stressing that the copies would be displayed for two weeks at voters registration centres and local government areas for scrutiny, claims and objections.
He urged the political parties to ensure their campaigns are issue-based devoid of violence.
The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Maman Dauda, said the law enforcement agency is committed to ensuring peace before, during and after the election for citizens to enjoy devidends of democracy.
“The registrations were invalidated on account of irregularities such as double registration, underaged voters and fake registration,”he explained.
He added that the total number of valid registration for Kano state in preparation for the 2023 general elections now stands at 5,927, 565, stressing that the copies would be displayed for two weeks at voters registration centres and local government areas for scrutiny, claims and objections.
He urged the political parties to ensure their campaigns are issue-based devoid of violence.
The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Maman Dauda, said the law enforcement agency is committed to ensuring peace before, during and after the election for citizens to enjoy devidends of democracy.
“Our mandate is to ensure free, fair, transparent and verifiable elections and we are in the same page with INEC,” he said.
The Head of the Department of State’s Security in Kano state, Mohammed Al-hassan, cautioned those wanting to perpetrate violence during the elections, stressing that the law will catch up with them, as officers and men have been deployed to that effect.
“Lastest developments show that politicians and their followers are busy destroying posters. Gradually, this will result to attacks and counter attacks, and we don’t want that. It must stop.
“Now, we are begging them to stop. If they don’t stop and we arrest them, we will not hear begging from anybody,” he warned.
Political parties, civil society organizations, traditional leaders and other stakeholders at the event spoke in unison making commitments towards ensuring a free and fair election come 2023.
