- Says Ruling Backing INEC To Reconfigure BVAS ‘Came Too Late’
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, March 11.
The polls have now been rescheduled by one week to March 18, 2023.
The development confirms The New Diplomat‘s earlier report as this medium had hinted that circumstances surrounding the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) following the mega election petitions filed by Labour Party’s Peter Obi and Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar were likely to force INEC to postpone the polls nationwide.
In a statement released late Wednesday, Festus Okoye, National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, confirmed INEC postponed the polls as the commission needed time for the reconfiguration of the BVAS used for the Presidential election held on 25th February 2023.
“The commission approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the Governorship and State Assembly elections and that the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections.
“For instance, the BVAS can only be activated on the specific date and time of an election. Having been used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on 25th February 2023, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the governorship and State Assembly elections.
“While the ruling of the tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the governorship and state assembly elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded.
The Spokesperson of INEC continued: “Consequently, the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the governorship and state assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18th March 2023.
“By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday 16th March 2023 i.e. 24 hours before the new date for the election. This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on 25th February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the commission was using the Smart Card Readers (SCRs).” Okoye said.
The New Diplomat had reported that the Court of Appeal in Abuja, Wednesday, gave nod to INEC’s request to reconfigure the BVAS devices as it refused to grant the application by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Obi which had sought to stop INEC from reconfiguring the BVAS to enable his legal access to inspect and certify sensitive materials used for February 25 poll, including BVAS.
Recall the PDP and LP had kicked against the re-configuration of the BVAS machines, saying it would amount to tampering with evidence in their election petitions seeking to upturn President-elect Bola Tinubu’s victory.
But a three-member panel of justices led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh ruled on Wednesday that the reconfiguration was to enable the commission conduct the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections.
One INEC source said the postponement of the Guber and State Houses of Assembly elections became inevitable as the BVAS re-configuration would take up to three or four days. He added that “INEC would have to move all the devices to its headquarters in Abuja for the re-configuration before they’re deployed back to the various states and finally to the polling units.”
