The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Oyo State, says it has proposed to hold a mock voters’ accreditation/verification exercise in the state.
The Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Adeniran Tella, who said this during a stakeholders meeting held at the INEC Office, Ibadan, revealed that the exercise would be held in twelve of the polling units in 6, out of the state’s 33 local government areas namely, Akinyele, Atiba, Iseyin, Ogbomoso North, Ibadan North and Ido, of the three senatorial districts in the state.
Tella revealed that the Commission had taken delivery of and tested each of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the elections in the state to ensure their functionality on Election Day, noting that the purpose of the mock exercise, to be held on Saturday, 4th February, 2023, is to conduct field tests.
He said: “The Commission therefore wishes to appeal to registered voters in the affected Polling Units to appear on the scheduled date with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the mock exercise. No doubt, the exercise will help to reassure the general public of the robustness of our system and further strengthen our processes ahead of the General Elections in the state.”
The REC affirmed that the 12 BVAS machines used for the exercise would be reconfigured before they are deployed for the General Elections in the state, noting that the Commission was fully ready for the elections as series of trainings had been and would still be conducted for both staff and 37,000 ad-hoc staff members of the Commission, in order to have seamless elections in the state.
Tella stated: “The Commission is to deploy technology for the conduct of the forthcoming elections through the use of BVAS for accreditation/verification of voters ad uploading Polling Units results through INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) on Election Day.”
He disclosed that the collection of PVCs at INEC offices in the state had been extended by 8 days, to end on Sunday, 5th February, 2023, with additional 2 hours, from 9am to 5pm daily, saying the Commission had distributed over 402,321 PVCs, with over 800,000 uncollected PVCs at the various Local Government Area offices in the state.
The REC, therefore, urged citizens to go out and collect their PVCs as their PVC is their power on Election Day.
On his part, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, representated by DCP Garba Ahmed, urged the electorate to come out en- masse for the mock exercise, noting that the exercise would provide an avenue for the Commission to test run the equipment for optimal performance during the General Elections.
Other stakeholders at the meeting were representatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), National Orientation Agency (NOA), Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), the Army, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), political parties and the European Union election observers, among others.
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