(STATEMENT ON THE RECONFIGURATION OF THE BVAS AND DEPLOYMENT FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP AND STATE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
– Issued: 4:00pm, Tuesday, 7th March 2023
THE Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) notes with concern the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to approach the Court of Appeal for an order to enable it to reconfigure the Bimodal Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the State Governorship and States Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, 11th March 2023.
In the light of several court cases challenging the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections and the order granted to the aggrieved candidates to inspect election material used for the election, Situation Room is worried that this will tamper with the information contained in the BVAS before a due inspection is conducted and Certified True Copies issued.
Situation Room is further concerned that the restrain on the Commission by the Court of Appeal leaves the conduct of the second round of the general election which is only three days away in uncertainty and urges the Court to take a final decision as soon as possible on INEC’s appeal to reconfigure the BVAS. This would prevent election stakeholders from wasting resources to deploy observers and actively monitor the processes leading up to the elections.
While Situation Room recognises that the BVAS have to be deployed for the second round of the general election, INEC needs to ensure and assure Nigerians that the integrity of the collated data from the Presidential and National Assembly Elections is preserved so that the information is available for inspection when necessary.
Situation Room will therefore be holding INEC accountable for the coming election as it did in the previous and beckons on citizens to do same. The Situation Room remains committed to continue to provide assessment of the environment ahead of the Saturday polls, is closely watching, and will keep receiving reports of incidence on our contact details.
