The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) makes it impossible for deceased, underage or non-existent persons to participate in elections, insisting that voters must be physically present for accreditation.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Tuesday, INEC Deputy Director for Publicity, Wilfred Ifeogah, said the BVAS captures voters through facial recognition or fingerprints before they can be accredited and cast their ballots.
“For the BVAS to work, you must be physically present. It will capture your details either using facial recognition or your biometrics using your fingerprints.”
Ifeogah was responding to allegations of ghost voting in the recent Osun State governorship election, saying the commission has no register for ghost voters but only a register of people who have physically registered to vote.
“We don’t have a register for ghost persons; we only have a voter register for physical persons that have actually registered.”
He said Osun had over 2.3 million registered voters, with about 1.9 million having collected their Permanent Voter Cards, while 955,400 voters were accredited for the election.
Ifeogah said the turnout represented about 50 per cent of registered voters who had collected their PVCs, describing the participation as significant compared with previous elections.
He said the commission also monitored the election through its situation room and observed voters remaining on queues beyond the scheduled 2:30 p.m. closing time.
“People actually came out massively for the election, which had over 50%.”
Ifeogah said allegations of ghost voting were therefore unfounded, maintaining that the BVAS system requires physical presence before a voter can be accredited.
“So, when you talk about deceased persons, there’s no way they will come out there because you need your facial recognition for you to be able to be accredited.”
He acknowledged, that INEC had previously identified issues with the national voter register, including ineligible voters, and said efforts had been made to produce a more refined register.
He explained that the commission had worked to remove ineligible voters from the register to improve the credibility of the electoral process.
“We actually had an arrangement to ensure that we have a more refined register that actually takes into account the status of voters that are actually alive, and all ineligible voters that are on the list, that they are expunged from the register.”
On the delayed uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, during the Osun election, Ifeogah attributed the delays largely to the high voter turnout at several polling units.
He said voting in some polling units continued beyond 2:30 p.m. because voters who were already on queues before the official closing time were allowed to complete the process.
“Some voting still took place beyond 2:30, some beyond 4:00, 5:00 PM.”
According to him, polling units could not upload results until voting, sorting and counting had been completed, explaining that this contributed to the difference in upload times across the state.
“We cannot upload results that has not been calculated.”
Ifeogah dismissed suggestions that INEC was unprepared for the high turnout, saying the commission was prepared but could not interrupt the voting process simply to meet the scheduled closing time.
He said polling units with higher numbers of voters naturally required more time to complete the accreditation, voting, sorting, counting and uploading processes.
On concerns over INEC’s response to misinformation and allegations surrounding elections, Ifeogah said the commission deliberately avoids making immediate statements until information has been properly verified.
He said reacting prematurely could undermine the credibility of the electoral body if subsequent information proved such statements to be inaccurate.
“We have to really look at it and see how true or if it’s going to so that we don’t just come out to make statements only for us to retract such things.”
Ifeogah said INEC remained committed to conducting free, fair and credible elections, while urging stakeholders to understand and comply with the rules guiding the electoral process.
Ojo Triumph
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