The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said that Wednesday’s ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential election held on 25th February. 2023, was the reason for the postponement of Saturday, 11th March 2023 Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
In a statement, the commission’s National Commissioner for Information Festus Okoye said the decision to postpone the Saturday, 11th March 2023 Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections had not been taken lightly but that it was necessary to ensure that there was 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.
He added that this had been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Card Readers.
On 3rd March 2023, the Presidential EPT had given an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country.
Okoye said the Commission approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed in States for the governorship and State Assembly elections and that the lack of a clearly defined time frame for the inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections.
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