A Civil Society Organisation, YIAGA Africa, has published its findings on the mock accreditation exercise recently conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the general election. INEC carried out the mock accreditation in several parts of the country on 4 February. Among the observations noted by YIAGA Africa was the issue of missing names on the voters’ register.
The CSO’s report highlighted several aspects of the exercise, including the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices, the uploading of result sheets to the viewing portal, the presence of security officers and party agents, and voter turnout. At least four polling officials were present in the polling units where the mock exercise was held, with an average of one female official per unit. Security personnel were present in 82 percent of the polling units.
Party agents were observed in varying proportions across the units: APC agents in 61 percent, PDP agents in 56 percent, LP agents in 22 percent, NNPP agents in 13 percent, SDP agents in 9 percent, and APGA agents in 8 percent. The BVAS functioned properly in 98 percent of polling units, while it malfunctioned in 2 percent; the glitches were subsequently fixed. Specific instances of malfunction were recorded in polling units in Nasarawa, Borno, Taraba, and Zamfara, but the issues did not significantly disrupt the process.
Missing names were reported in 11 percent of polling units, where voters whose names were not on the register were denied accreditation by the BVAS. Regarding overall satisfaction, 55 percent of observers were very satisfied with the conduct of the mock exercise, 40 percent were satisfied, and 4 percent were not satisfied.
The report also noted that, of the 36 states and the FCT, only 15 states uploaded data on the IReV during the mock accreditation. These states were Abia, Adamawa, Akwa‑Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Ondo, Rivers, Plateau, Oyo, Taraba, and Sokoto. Only 82 polling units uploaded the total number of accredited voters on the BVAS to the IReV portal. All 15 states that uploaded mock result sheets also transmitted accreditation data, except Oyo, Plateau, Edo, and Ebonyi. Of the 94 result sheets uploaded, only 16 were clear and readable. YIAGA Africa observed discrepancies between the total number of accredited voters uploaded by the BVAS and the totals recorded on the mock result sheets.
YIAGA Africa recommended that INEC make its BVAS testing report public; notify voters of polling‑unit migrations via text messages, emails, or phone calls; provide proper education for electoral officials on recording results to avoid discrepancies; and ensure that all BVAS devices are in top condition before deployment for the general election.
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