Guber Polls: CODE commends INEC over BVAS

By Abubakar Yunusa, Abuja

ACivil Society Organisation (CSO), Connected Development (CODE) has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over prompt deployment of election materials in the gubernatorial and the State House of Assembly elections, stating that the BVAS machines function well.

Speaking at a press conference to give an update on the election, the Chief Executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, said the BVAS functioned well.

“Successfully, we deployed 20,000 citizen observers who to this hour keep populating our database with reports from various polling units across the country.

“Despite all of these faults that we have observed we cannot say that the commission has not done well in some areas.

“For example we observed that we recorded the early opening of polls in 79% of polling units observed by CODE as opposed to the less than 30% in the February 25th general elections.

“We must commend the functionality of the BVAS in this election. This indicates the commission’s commitment to embracing this new technology in our electioneering process.

“Officially all polling units across the country are closed even though voting is still ongoing in some polling units. We want to remind INEC of their promise of electronic transmission of results for the gubernatorial elections. While we still debate the issues around the February 25th Elections it is not too late for INEC to redeem itself. We would like to remind INEC that they set these standards for themselves and asked us to trust them in executing them, “ Lawal said.

According to him, “Because we observed in the morning at the junction of Odogbolu/Iyarere, PU: 093, Aguda, Surulere area of Lagos, where at the opening of polls the presiding INEC official announced that there would be no uploading of results. Our observer at this polling unit has just updated us that counting, sorting and announcement of results have been made, and the INEC staff lived up to their earlier warning by refusing to upload. While citizens insisted they upload, the Nigeria Police put them in their cars and drove off.

“We must, however, commend INEC on the uploads of results on the IReV. We have noticed that as of 3:30 pm this afternoon, some results from various polling units have already been uploaded on the IReV portal. We are watching this progress very closely.

“We are on the precipice of monumental change in our democracy right now. The dynamics of our voting pattern and our electioneering processes are improving significantly and we must not allow logistical failures to thwart necessary change.

“The people have done their part, they are out there either still voting or counting their votes, and following the results, it is time for the commission to do its part as well, “ Lawal added.

“There was an improvement in logistics by INEC, however. There was early arrival of election officers at the polling units contrary to what obtained on Feb. 25.

“Also, the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines worked perfectly on Saturday, except in few cases where it rejected fingerprints,’’ Karimi said.

On his part, Fanwo commended INEC for organising credible, free and fair elections.

“Materials were brought on time and the BVAS worked perfectly. The electoral officers were very professional as they provided a level playing ground for everybody to exercise their franchise.

“We also want to commend the security operatives; they were very professional in their conduct, and the voters conducted themselves very well.

“I commend INEC for organising this very credible, free and fair elections,’’ Fanwo said. (NAN)