NBA urges INEC to fix BVAS, remove corrupt officials

“The NBA urges INEC to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the BVAS machines and other election technology are fixed and improved.”

News Agency of Nigeria • March 8, 2023

Bi-modal Voters Verification System (BVAS) used to illustrate the story

The Nigerian Bar Association has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to fix all bugs or glitches that affected the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the results viewing portal and other challenges during the presidential and federal parliamentary elections.

“The NBA urges INEC to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the BVAS machines and other election technology are fixed and improved,“ NBA said in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Akorede Habeeb-Lawal.

NBA identified other challenges: insecurity at polling units, violent attacks on voters and officials, voter intimidation, and snatching and destroying ballot boxes.

Also, it charged INEC to exclude its staff engaged in malpractices during the February 25 polls from participating in the March 11 governorship and state assemblies elections.

“All INEC staff, including collation and returning officers, with proven cases of misconduct in the February 25 elections should be excluded from the March 11 elections,“ it said.

The association urged the inspector general of police, Usman Baba, to ensure the timely deployment of police officers for the March 11 elections. It also called on political parties to educate their members and supporters on the need to eschew all actions violating the Electoral Act.

The NBA commended Nigerians for their resilience and perseverance in carrying out their civic duties during the presidential and national assembly elections.

The association said that findings from their observers indicated that only a quarter of the electorate, representing 27.1 per cent, were impressed with the conduct of the elections.

“The majority of the voters representing 64.6 per cent, said they are ‘somewhat satisfied’,“ it said, noting that its observers found that only 8.2 per cent of the electorate rated the election “poor” or “very poor.”

The NBA Election Working Group deployed over 1,000 INEC-accredited observers drawn from 128 branches of the association to monitor elections across the 36 states and the FCT.

(NAN)

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