Shifted poll: APC urges INEC to preserve BVAS data

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced that it will respect the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to postpone the governorship and State House of Assembly elections, originally scheduled for this Saturday, to March 18. In a statement issued Thursday, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka urged INEC to take all necessary measures to preserve and protect the integrity of the data extracted from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), as the commission had pledged to do before the court.

This development comes less than 24 hours after INEC rescheduled the elections that were to be held on March 11 in order to reconfigure the BVAS machines. The postponement was made possible after the Presidential Election Petition Court at the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted INEC’s request to reconfigure the BVAS used in the presidential poll. In a unanimous decision, a three‑member panel of justices dismissed objections raised by the Labour Party and held that preventing the electoral body from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the upcoming governorship and State Assembly elections.

Morka said, “While noting INEC’s reassurance that data from the presidential and National Assembly elections will be properly backed up on its cloud facilities, we urge INEC to do everything within its power to preserve and protect the integrity of the extracted data from BVAS as it has committed to do before the court. Further, we enjoin INEC to use the opportunity presented by the election postponement to address any gaps or hitches identified in the presidential election in order to avoid a recurrence on March 18.”

He added, “Even as presidential candidates and their parties explore and exercise their constitutional liberty to challenge or defend the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections, we must remind ourselves of the overriding duty to eschew conduct and actions that could undermine the peace of our country or jeopardize INEC’s capacity to conduct the upcoming elections.”

Morka concluded, “Our candidate, now President‑Elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, emerged as the overwhelming choice of Nigerians in a presidential election that was free, fair, and in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC Guidelines for the 2023 General Election. We are thankful for our renewed presidential mandate and urge our supporters—and indeed all Nigerians—to double down on their support for our great party and its candidates in the upcoming elections.”