According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in order to eradicate electoral result manipulation, it has implemented crucial technological safeguards to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
This was revealed on Wednesday in Abuja by Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), the chairman of INEC, at a meeting with the RECs and the inauguration of Dr. Chukwu Joseph as the Abia REC.
According to Amupitan, the updates were made especially to protect the result management system and guarantee the accuracy of data sent to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“I can’t overlook the enhancement we made to our result management system.
“We have determined that the actual compilation of the results at multiple levels poses a greater threat to our political process than even voting at the polling places.
He said that in order to prevent any kind of manipulation of the findings that are sent to IREV, we have added certain safeguards to the BVAS system.
The presiding officer must now take a picture of the filled-out Form EC8A and upload it to the IReV, according to Amupitan.
Additionally, he stated that the presiding officer must input each political party’s score straight into the BVAS gadget.
The BVAS system conducts internal validation checks to make sure that the number of accredited voters is not exceeded by the total number of votes cast.
“Mathematically, the figures entered are consistent. “Excessive voting is automatically detected and cannot be resolved,” he stated.
According to Amupitan, the Kano and Rivers States Constituencies polls, as well as the FCT Area Council election on Saturday, were used to test the enhancements.
He mentioned that the election results were verified to be accurate after being uploaded to IREV.
“As of right now, 97 percent of the results from the FCT Area Council election have been uploaded to IREV,” he stated.
Additionally, the INEC Chairman revealed that INEC would shortly begin reviewing its rules and policies for the 2027 election.
Amupitan also deemed the alleged election result tampering at the Kuroko Health Center polling station in Kwali Area Council during the Saturday FCT area council election to be inaccurate and false.
He clarified that a clerical error by a presiding officer, who recorded 122 for a party instead of 121, was discovered during an examination into the internet rage.
Additionally, she used words to correct the figures. Following that, the accurate and correct result was properly recorded into the Ward Collation’s collation form EC8B.
Because of the investigation’s findings, the FCT REC had to issue a news release on that occurrence as well as a few other incidents that had changes.
“I must tell you all that Nigerians are looking to us with increased anticipation and vigilance, even though there is no flawless election.
“I have to stress that there is no space for mistake or justification in this important process,” Amupitan stated.
After the Electoral Act 2026 was passed on February 13, the INEC chief also revealed that the Commission would shortly release an updated Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Election.
In order to strengthen the integrity of the voter registration, he also said that the Commission would shortly begin a revalidation process to guarantee a “thorough clean-up.”
The previous notice was given in accordance with the outdated legislation. We must make certain changes and release an updated schedule for the general election of 2027 in light of the new Electoral Act.
Additionally, the revalidation exercise for our voters must be mentioned.
In order to further sanitize and enhance the integrity of the register in advance of the 2027 General Election, he stated that the commission would shortly begin a comprehensive cleanup.
The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) second phase is still in progress and will run through April 17, Amupitan added.
He stated that the CVR exercise will be completed on August 30 and is expected to last for a full year.
In addition, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the country have been instructed by Prof. Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to step up voter education and sensitization in advance of the general elections in 2027.
On Wednesday in Abuja, Amupitan issued the directive during a meeting with RECs and the swearing-in of Dr. Chukwu Chukwuemeka Joseph, the new REC representing Abia.
Additionally, he encouraged voters nationwide to locate their voting places (PUs) in advance of the 2027 elections by using the INEC portals that are now available.
The chairman stated that voter indifference remained a major problem that required “continuous, not episodic” engagement, even though voter turnout during the most recent FCT Area Council elections had somewhat improved.
“Voter indifference persisted in the turnout, notwithstanding a little improvement in the FCT.
Over 239,000 people cast ballots in this election, compared to 148,685 in 2022, and participation increased to roughly 15% from 9.4% in 2022.
“Deepening voter engagement and confidence still requires a great deal of work,” he stated.
Amupitan clarified that no voters were relocated in 2026 in response to the public concern over purported “voter migration” in the FCT.
He clarified that in 2022, it was decided to redistribute the voters’ initiative in order to increase access by clearing out 12,000 voting places and constructing more than 56,000 new ones across the country.
Amupitan clarified that INEC didn’t relocate voters to a different neighborhood, stating that the new polling places were situated within the same building just a few meters from the original ones in order to minimize crowding and enhance the voting experience.
He stated that nearly 6.7 million voters were moved from roughly 12,000 crowded polling places to new 17,000 less crowded ones nationwide in 2022 in order to fill the newly constructed units, many of which had no registered voters at first.
About 580,000 voters were re-distributed to 1,156 polling places in the FCT alone, and 411 polling places were cleared of congestion. Four years ago, in 2022, rather than in 2026, that exercise was conducted.
“The same voters in the FCT cast ballots in those polling places in the general election of 2023,” he stated.
Amupitan said that INEC found out during the mock accreditation on February 7 in the Federal Capital Territory that some voters had complained about their voting places being moved in 2022, but they were having trouble finding the new ones.
Additionally, the INEC chairman remembered that he promptly ordered new emails and texts to be issued to impacted FCT voters prior to the election, particularly to those whose polling places were moved in 2022.
For the advantage of those who did not cast ballots in the general elections of 2023, he claims that this will act as a refresher so that everyone who is willing to cast a ballot may easily find their polling places.
They could easily find the polling unit by using the Polling Unit Locator at https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/pu, which was included in the texts and emails received.
Furthermore, he ordered that the voter register be re-displayed in all impacted polling places for a minimum of four days so that electors could verify their names prior to the FCT election.
Despite extensive publicizing, the posting of the Register of Voters, and the distribution of emails and texts to impacted voters in the days leading up to the election, Amupitan stated that some voters were still having trouble finding their polling places.
“If citizens do not understand our processes, then the objective is only half achieved,” he remarked, indicating that INEC’s policies may be sound and its intents may be pure.
So, I’m telling all RECs to step up voter education and awareness campaigns in their states. There cannot be no episodic voter awareness. It needs to go on forever.
“The commission’s online Polling Unit Locator at https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/pu must be used by citizens to confirm their polling unit details well in advance of elections.”They should, if required, personally attend their polling places prior to election day.
For the benefit of individuals who did not cast ballots in the general elections of 2023, we must start spreading this important information right away so they can find their polling places in advance, he stated.
