INEC officials have accused politicians of planning to hack into their system to manufacture BVAs machines.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Wednesday, accused politicians of trying to hack into the commission’s server and also trying to manufacture the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine ahead of the 2023 election.
Also: 2023:’INEC Yet To Convince Us’- Tinubu Says BVAs Not reliable, Dependable
Newsonline reports that the Head of Department, Voter Education, and Publicity, Achumie Rex, disclosed this at a two-day workshop for civil society organisations on Voter Education, organised by the Transition Monitoring Group and supported by the USAID, Achumie reiterated that the 2023 general election will be free and fair.
He said, There is no room to hack into INEC server. Politicians are doing everything possible to get into the INEC server or even to manufacture BVAS, but unfortunately for them, INEC is three steps ahead of their plots.”
Also allaying fears of BVAS not working in rural areas, Achumie stated that the machine was built on a dual basis; “online and offline”.
Revealing some of the steps taken by INEC to ensure that 2023 election is successful, he added, “Recent revelations by Professor Mahmood Yakubu show that the commission has conducted 105 elections using the IReV, while it has uploaded 32,985 (99.13%) out of a possible 33,275 results, having recorded 100% upload rate in the just concluded Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
“Apart from voting, results management is easily the most critical aspect of election administration. While voting is an open and public activity, results management is usually run by a few election officials, mostly outside the glare of the public. Thus, there is need to promote transparency in this in the best possible way.
“Other innovations that seem to have enhanced the system include biometric voter registration, computer-based registration of voters, online pre-registration, the Permanent Voter Cards with chips, creating online portals for candidates, observers and political party agents, amongst others, which have all gone a long way in standardising Nigeria’s election management system,”
Politicians inducing voters with money, buying PVCs — INEC
INEC, on Tuesday, raised the alarm that some politicians have been buying up Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, and financially inducing unsuspecting voters to harvest their Voter Identification Numbers ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The revelation by INEC, however, elicited angry reactions from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, and regional bodies such as the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Middle Belt Forum, MBF.
the National Commissioner overseeing the FCT, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Plateau states, Mohammed Haruna, who raise the alarm said, “We are aware some politicians are more or less buying the PVCs. If you collect the PVC and then you sell it out or allow someone else to have it, you are aiding illegal possession of the PVC which is an offence in our Electoral Act.
“Some of you are aware that only recently, INEC managed to convict two people, who were found guilty of illegal possession of PVCs in Kano and Sokoto. So, I urge people to connect their PVCs, keep it safe, and make sure that on Election Day, you go out there and cast your votes because, of course, without your PVC you cannot vote.”
