Issued: Monday, 6th February 2023
On Saturday, 4th February 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), conducted a Mock Accreditation exercise, a simulation of election day polls, in 436 designated polling units across the 109 senatorial districts in the country; 12 in each State and 4 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to demonstrate the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which is the technology it intends to use for the 2023 General Elections.
Although the BVAS has been used in the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun States off-cycle Governorship Elections, this would be the first time it is being used in a nationwide test run.
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) received reports from its deployed field observers and other election observer networks, and notes the following:
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:
1. The exercise was conducted in a largely orderly and peaceful manner across the States.
2. In most Polling Units (PUs) visited, INEC officials arrived on time and the accreditation exercise commenced at the given time of 9:00am. In some instances, such as in Ibaji Local Government Area (LGA) in Kogi State, 11:00am was recorded. In Orumba North LGA, Anambra State, a 10:00am time was recorded. There were additional other areas where a late opening time was observed. These include Wukari LGA, Taraba State and Ado-Odo/Ota LGA of Ogun State.
3. Observers noted the effective use of BVAS in several of the areas where a test run held.
4. There was presence of security personnel from Nigeria Police, Department of State Services and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in most PUs.
5. Voter turnout in several States in the North of the country was high.
6. In the FCT, turnout was markedly low at the Area 10/Post Office polling unit in the city centre. Only 16 out of a total of 2,052 on the voters’ register showed up for accreditation.
7. Generally, priority voting was recognised, and Persons with Disability were given priority.
BIMODAL VOTER ACCREDITATION SYSTEM (BVAS):
Situation Room observed a huge improvement with the use of the BVAS from the last off-cycle Governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun States. The generally observed time used in accreditation ranged from 1- 2 minutes for each voter. In Jos North of Plateau State, a particular accreditation took only 7 seconds. There were however several reports of extended accreditation in some cases nearing 5 minutes. Situation Room observers from Kaura Namoda LGA, Zamfara State, Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa State and Ibadan North LGA, Oyo State reported extended accreditation time. There were even instances where the BVAS could not accredit some voters through the fingerprint and facial recognition options. This was reportedly the case in Gombe LGA, Gombe State and Abuja Municipal Area Council, FCT.
Situation Room observers also received reports and witnessed BVAS failing to accredit persons whose physical features and appearance had changed from the time of first registration. These were mostly persons captured in the first registration exercise of 2011.
It is also Situation Room’s observation that the BVAS recognition function appears to work better using facial recognition with fingerprint accreditation being slower. Although, the fingerprint accreditation was much better than in past elections where the BVAS has been used. The BVAS also appears to have a functional capacity to exclude double accreditation as was observed in Area 10/Post Office polling unit in City Centre Abuja.
Situation Room also observed that some voters were reassigned to new polling units without their knowledge and so could not be accredited in their previous voting unit when they showed up for accreditation. This report was received from several States of the country including Rivers, Edo, Gombe, Bauchi, Jigawa and F.C.T. These redirection of voters to new polling units without their knowledge could cause significant disruptions ahead of the general elections if INEC does not find a way of communicating the new fact to registered voters.
ROLE FOR OBSERVERS IN ELECTIONS:
Situation Room along with several other accredited domestic and international observers made efforts and did observe the mock accreditation under the BVAS. Although the event went smoothly, there was an isolated incident of harassment of an election observer in Okene LGA, Kogi State. Situation Room observer, Moses Adekoye, was arrested and held for nearly five hours by the Department of State Services officials. The observer was accused of taking pictures at the location of the Mock Accreditation. The DSS claimed to have arrested him for his own safety and only released him after high level intervention by the INEC chairman who confirmed that observers were entitled to be at the Mock Accreditation locations. Situation Room notes that the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the State, Dr. Hale Longpet, took no action to restrain the security agency from their infringement of the right of observers to observe the elections.
Situation Room is concerned that this incident may repeat during the general elections with security agencies interfering with the right of observers to observe elections on polling day.
CONCLUSION:
Situation Room notes that the turnout generally of voters for the test run of accreditation was low. It would appear that the awareness created for this by INEC was limited and a lot of voters did not know much about the exercise to be able to show up for it. It is also important to note that the exercise took place against a backdrop of current social conditions in Nigeria including shortages of fuel and currency. This may have impacted on turnout.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. INEC would need to create more awareness about location of polling units particularly of newly created ones so that voters will be able to go to the right polling unit on voting day.
2. Training of staff and ad hoc staff to be used during the general elections will need to be escalated and cascaded down to enable more staff to be trained especially with less than 3 weeks of the holding of polls. It is important to note that if staff struggle with using the BVAS on any of the election days, this could significantly hamper the election.
3. The configuration of BVAS machines would need to be done much more efficiently and effectively. It is important to note that the Mock Accreditation exercise took place in only 436 polling units of the country with the existence of nearly 180,000 polling units nationwide; there can be very little room for error of configuration on election day as voters may become restless and frustrated with a possible lead to violence if the configuration of the BVAS fails in polling units on election day.
4. INEC would also need to address the challenge of BVAS failing to authenticate voters who have valid PVCs but whose physical features may have differentiated from their original features at first registration.
5. From the accreditation test run just held and a low turnout, it is quite clear that the constraints of cash crunch on individuals may impact on voter turnout. The Federal Government may need to work hard and significantly reduce the debilitating effect of the recent currency change. Indeed, the cash crunch may even begin to pose a challenge to free votes as politicians who are reported to have now developed capacity and access to cash from the banks could use it in furtherance of vote buying and inducement to a cash hungry voting population.
6. The right of duly accredited observers to observe the 2023 elections will need to be re-emphasised and widely disseminated by the Independent National Electoral Commission, in order to assure citizens of INEC’s commitment to organise free polls. The security agencies must commit to respecting observers’ rights to observe elections and refrain from interference with these well-established rights.
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SIGNED:
Ene Obi
Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Asma’u Joda
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
James Ugochukwu
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room