The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refuted claims on Tuesday alleging that it manipulated the accreditation data on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal during the off-cycle election in Kogi State on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
INEC spokesperson, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said in a statement that the reports from some media reports alleging that the Commission tampered with the accredited figures of voters in the Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the IReV portal are unfounded.
“For the avoidance of doubt, 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,” Haruna said.
He stated that BVAS is designed to primarily work offline without internet connectivity, which facilitates a faster and more seamless authentication and accreditation experience for voters.
However, when its application is active or in use, depending on the strength of its connection to the internet, BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the Accreditation Backend System (ABS).
He added that this 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.
According to the statement, 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 the 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.
Haruna stated that this is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures.
According to him, the accreditation data cannot be changed on BVAS after the close of poll.
“The public should therefore disregard the misleading report and misinformation,” the INEC spokesperson said.
THEGUARDIAN
