TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied reports that accredited figures of voters in the Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, were tampered with.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mohammed Haruna, INEC’s national commissioner and member of the information and voter education committee, said “the most accurate and up-to-date Voters’ Accreditation Data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day. It automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters”.

A news report on Sunday had alleged that there were discrepancies in the number of accredited voters captured by the BVAS and the figures contained in the uploaded manual electoral result sheets for some polling units in Kogi state.

The report said the discrepancies were seen in some polling units in Okene, Adavi and Okehi LGAs of the state.

However, the INEC national commissioner said the BVAS is designed to primarily work offline without unternet connectivity.

He noted that when its application is active or in use, depending on the strength of its connection to the internet, the BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the accreditation backend system (ABS).

Haruna added that the exportation of data does not happen when the device’s application is inactive or when the internet connectivity is poor.

“The same experience applies to a situation where more than one BVAS gadget is used at a polling unit with more than 1,250 registered voters,” he said.

“This could be compared to a situation when poor network services delay the delivery of an SMS sent from one individual to another through a mobile phone.

“At the close of poll, Presiding Officers are expected to press the data exportation button on the BVAS to ensure that all the accreditation data are exported to the ABS.

“This process, referred to as synchronization and which is ongoing, could lead to changes in the accreditation figures as more data flow in to update the existing figures.

“This is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures. The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of poll.”

The commissioner urged the public to disregard the misleading report and misinformation.