The mock accreditation of voters scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted yesterday in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and to upload the results of the polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) ahead of the off-cycle governorship elections in those states suggests readiness of the commission to sanitise the electoral process and make outcome of elections acceptable to the stakeholders. Although the INEC exercise may not reveal all potential challenges in the elections, there should be lessons for the umpire to take in moderating the polls.

A major challenge facing the conduct of elections in Nigeria and causing crisis during and after the exercise is the rejection of the results for several reasons, including under age voting, allowing other unqualified people to participate in the process, and manipulation of the results in favour of a particular candidate or political party.

During different elections, allegations of under age voting, bias by the electoral umpire and manipulation of results are indeed rife, causing violence at polling stations and collation centres and leading to the cancellation of the results in some places. The BVAS technology and uploading of results to IReV were introduced to check fraudulent practices during election as well as inject credibility into the exercise with a view to making the outcome acceptable and saving the nation’s democracy.

The BVAS machines, as manufactured and configured, cannot be tampered with. Once the procedure of identification is engaged, the machine captures and authenticates the bearer of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and registers the same Instantly. Though the BVAS and IReV performed well during mock accreditation of voters conducted before the February 25, 2023 general elections, the IReV was said to have failed to function properly during the actual elections, making some political parties to reject the presidential poll result and file a case on the matter in court. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi have rejected the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) and filed appeal at the Supreme Court.

The commission announced the plan to conduct the mock accreditation of voters ahead of the governorship elections in the three states scheduled for November 11, 2023. In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by the commission’s National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Sam Olumekun, the commission said that yesterday’s mock accreditation would be done using BVAS and the polling units’ results would be uploaded to the IReV.

The test run was scheduled to take place simultaneously in the three states yesterday from 8.30am to 2.30pm. “A maximum of three polling units in each senatorial district have been identified across each of the three states, covering a total of nine senatorial districts and 27 polling units. Lessons learnt from the exercise will be taken into consideration in ensuring a seamless process on the day of the election,’’ Olumekun said.

Accreditation of voters is a very crucial component of the electoral process that is meant to ensure that the game is played according to or in compliance with the rules. Essentially, accreditation is done to check unauthorised and multiple voting; prevent impersonation as only the owners of voter’s card are allowed by law to vote; ascertain if a voter had previously voted in the same election to stop multiple voting; and ensure that only those who were registered in a particular unit are allowed to vote there.

Accreditation is not done by proxy, which is the reason even a physically challenged person who desires to vote in an election must present himself or herself for accreditation within the time set for the exercise, and stay around to cast the vote at the appointed time. As for the uploading of the results to IReV, which is also known as electronic transmission of results, the purpose is to ensure transparent election process.

Basically, this helps to ensure that the will of the people, the choice of the majority of the candidates registered for the election and actually participated in voting prevail and is accurately reflected by the outcome announced to the nation by the electoral umpire.

Election in Nigeria has often been replete with irregularities and obscurity, leading to rejection of the results and the attendant violent protests that claim lives and property. Though post-election violence in Nigeria is not always caused by established fraud in the exercise but by refusal of some losers to accept defeat, it is still important to inject adequate transparency into the process to check the rate and extent to which some defeated candidates can call their supporters to the streets in protest against the outcome of an election.

In 2011, when it became obvious that former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, from the southern part of the country, was winning the presidential poll and the main opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), from northern Nigeria, was losing, Buhari’s supporters took to the streets of most of the northern states to protest against alleged rigging of the election. In the crisis that degenerated into ethnic and sectarian bloodletting across the northern states, hundreds of people were killed and property worth billions of naira destroyed.

The conduct of the 2023 general elections has drawn and is still drawing widespread criticism by opposition political parties that condemned failure by INEC to use BVAS in some places and failure to upload the results of the polling units to IReV for Nigerians to follow the figures and eventually ascertain who truly won the poll. The allegation of manipulation of results due to failure to upload them as promised is still a subject of litigation in court.

To sanitise the electoral process, avoid crisis and boost credibility of the outcome, proper accreditation of voters and uploading of the results to IReV for all to see and be accurately guided should not be compromised. It is on the basis of this that the mock accreditation of voters and uploading of results to the portal ahead of the governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states is a welcome move. Besides, it is an opportunity for INEC, which has been accused many times of being biased, to protect its image by ensuring that the forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states are credible and the outcome is acceptable.

Nigerians expect that yesterday’s experience will provide permanent solutions to disruptive features of the nation’s electoral process henceforth.

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