The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured voters and stakeholders of a transparent and credible process in the Ondo South Senatorial District bye-election, following technical challenges affecting the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in some polling units.
The Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mutiu Agboke, gave the assurance during an assessment of the exercise on Saturday, noting that voting commenced smoothly across most polling units, with election officials arriving early and residents participating in the process.
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“First, we saw that people have been enthusiastic to participate in the election. Early this morning, we saw the early opening of the polls. Our officials were at the various polling units to open on time. In fact, as early as about 7:43 a.m., some of the centres had already settled down. So largely, the majority of the polling units opened on time,” he said.
Agboke acknowledged network-related disruptions affecting the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in some areas but noted that technical teams were addressing the situation.
“It is something from the centre and I am sure our technical team is looking at it. What we are using is a machine and anything can happen. But the responsive attention given to such challenges by INEC is what shows that we are professional in this job.”
He added that election activities were progressing across the six local government areas of the senatorial district, while security agencies maintained a peaceful environment throughout the exercise.
“In all the six local governments, activities are taking place. Our local government officials are very busy. Our supervisory and returning officers are around and everybody has been working.
So far, so “Security has been well provided for everybody. So far, we have not had any report of any incident and we have not recorded any casualty in any way.”
Also speaking, INEC National Commissioner, Professor Kunle Ajayi, reaffirmed the integrity of the commission’s result management process, explaining that polling unit results would be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) after counting and documentation.
“After counting at each polling unit and entering the scores in the appropriate forms in the presence of party agents, they will sign, and we will use the BVAS machine to upload the result to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).”
He clarified that IReV is designed for public viewing of results and does not perform result computation.
“IReV is not a counting machine. It simply displays the uploaded result sheets. The total score will only be determined at the final collation centre, which is the senatorial collation centre.”
Ajayi further assured voters that all eligible persons already on queue before the close of polls would be accredited and allowed to vote despite any network difficulties.
“It is a network provider problem and not necessarily our problem. However, anybody who is already on the queue will still be attended to. Even if it is 6 p.m., we will still attend to them.”
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