From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fix lapses in the mock accreditation ahead of the polls.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) through its Election Analysis Centre (EAC) deployed 111 field observers to monitor the mock accreditation exercise conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday February 4, 2023.
CDD deployed three (3) observers per state across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The mock accreditation exercise, which INEC conducted across 436 polling units, was organised to test the functionality and reliability of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the February 25 and March 11, 2023 elections.
CDD Director ,Idayat Hassan in a statement signed on Saturday said INEC conducted the mock accreditation in one out of every 405 polling units.
“What this fundamentally means is, for every one polling unit where the accreditation took place, there were at least 404 others left out – such a wide vacuum is already a concern. As it stands, only 436 of 176,846 polling units were covered, which is less than one percent of the area to be covered.
“Based on field observers’ data on the exercise, CDD EAC found instances of late arrival of INEC officials to their respective polling units. In several cases, INEC poll officials had not arrived for commencement of the process by 11:30am, whereas they were supposed to have arrived between 8:00 and 8:30am. These instances of late arrival of poll officials were documented in polling units at Community Primary School, Enugu, Ngwo, where officials arrived at 11am. In Kungana Special Primary School, Suntai, Taraba State, and Polling Unit 002 at Damilu Primary School, Jimeta, observer data indicated that poll officials arrived at 11:30am, three and half hours behind the scheduled time. Late arrival of INEC officials was recorded in much of the 36 states and in 58% of the 111 polling units observed.
“Our observer data shows that the BVAS worked smoothly across the majority of polling units observed. At an average of between 30 seconds and two minutes, the BVAS accredited voters who showed up for the exercise. Although CDD EAC observer data recorded isolated instances where the BVAS experienced glitches while trying to capture the finger prints and facial features of elderly voters, the device eventually used either the fingerprint or facial mode to get the details of the senior citizens. Our observer data indicates that the BVAS recorded more biometric authentication through facial recognition than through fingerprint.
” In State Primary School, Otuokpoti Ward 2 located in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, observer data showed that out of the six voters accredited as at 11:40am, five were authenticated through facial recognition, while only one voter was accredited using fingerprint authentication.
“Our observation of the mock accreditation exercise similarly documented a spate of low turnout of voters for the exercise. In several polling units observed, less than 3 percent of registered voters turned out to take part in the mock accreditation and voting. The low turnout was traced to low awareness. The poor awareness, and subsequent low turnout made comprehensive assessment of the BVAS impossible.
“Our observers similarly recorded cases of voters who were not registered at the polling units where the mock accreditation took place, showing up to participate in the exercise due to lack of information about how the process was being conducted.
It was noted that a good number of voters who had collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) simply assumed they could be part of the process as long as they had their PVCs.
“In the course of the mock accreditation exercise, CDD EAC observer deployed in Polling Unit 3, Aghazie Square, Onusa Ward in Nkwerre LGA of Imo State, reported being harassed and intimidated by security officials attached to some government functionaries in the State,she said .
