The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has introduced critical technological safeguards to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to eliminate electoral result manipulation.

The INEC chairman, Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) and the inauguration of Chukwu Joseph as the REC for Abia.

Mr Amupitan stated that the upgrades were specifically designed to secure the result management system and ensure the integrity of data transmitted to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

“I must not fail to mention the improvement we have introduced in our result management system.

“We have identified that the greatest threat to our electoral process is not even the voting at the polling units but the actual collation of the results at several levels.

“We have introduced some safeguards to the BVAS system, which is to curb all manner of manipulation of the results that will be transmitted to IREV,’’ he said.

Mr Amupitan said that with the upgrade, the presiding officer is required to capture and upload an image of the completed Form EC8A to the IReV.

He added that the presiding officer is also to enter the scores of each political party directly into the BVAS device.

“The BVAS system performs internal validation checks to ensure that the total votes entered do not exceed the number of accredited voters.

“The figures entered are mathematically consistent. Overvoting is automatically flagged and cannot be finalised,” he said.

Mr Amupitan said that the upgrades were tested during the Saturday FCT Area Council election and the Kano and Rivers States Constituencies elections.

He noted that the results of the elections were uploaded to IREV and were found to be correct.

“As we speak, an average of 97 per cent of the results have been uploaded to IREV for the FCT Area Council election,’’ he said.

The INEC chairman also disclosed that INEC would soon embark on the review of its regulations and guidelines for the 2027 election.

Mr Amupitan also declared as false and untrue an alleged manipulation of the election result at the Kuroko Health Centre polling unit in the Kwali Area Council during the Saturday FCT Area Council election.

He explained that an investigation into the allegation that went viral online revealed a clerical error by a presiding officer, who recorded 122 for a party instead of 121.

“She also corrected the figures in words. It was the correct and accurate result that was subsequently duly entered into the collation form EC8B at the ward collation.

“The outcome of the investigation necessitated the FCT REC to issue a press release on that incident and a few other cases where there were alterations.

‘Although there is no perfect election, I must make it clear to you all that Nigerians are looking to us with heightened anticipation and scrutiny. I must emphasise that there is no room for error or excuse in this crucial process,’’ Mr Amupitan said.

The INEC boss also disclosed that following the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026 on February 13, the commission would soon issue a revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election.

He also announced that the commission would soon commence a revalidation exercise to ensure a “thorough clean-up” of the voter register in order to strengthen the register’s integrity.

“The earlier notice was issued under the old law. With the introduction of the new Electoral Act, we have to make some adjustments and issue a revised timetable for the 2027 general election.

“Mention must also be made of our voters’ revalidation exercise.

“The commission will soon embark on a thorough clean-up with a view to further sanitising and strengthening the integrity of the register ahead of the 2027 General Election,’’ he said.

Mr Amupitan also noted that the second phase of the continuous voter registration (CVR) was still ongoing and would continue until April 17.

“The entire CVR exercise is scheduled to span one year and will be concluded on August 30,’’ he said. 

(NAN)