Communication experts: Benefits of BVAS not achieved during Feb 25 polls

The Consortium of Nigerian Communication Experts (CoNCE), a group of communication teachers and practitioners, has released its position on the February 25 elections.

On March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.

However, the opposition parties said they would contest the victory of Tinubu in court, citing irregularities in the conduct of the election.

In a communique released on Sunday, CoNCE said although there were some positive outcomes from the election, there were also some challenges.

“Among the things that were adjudged to have gone wrong in the build-up to the election were: Divisive, unethical, and unprofessional communication campaign strategies, tactics, and messages that created unnecessary tension,” the communique reads.

“Over-emphasis on religion and ethnicity and the exploitation of personal and group identity in appealing to supporters. The unnecessary denigration of individual presidential candidates, their character, and personality.

“Over promising on the preparedness of the electoral institutions, especially INEC, which had assured the government and people of its absolute preparedness for the successful conduct of free and fair elections.

“The negative influence of money in buying votes and bribing electoral officers. The unexpected decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce new Naira notes within a very short time.

“The use of politicians instead of trained professional communicators as spokespersons for some of the political parties.

On the conduct of the elections, the group said INEC failed to live up to voters’ expectations owing to delay in the arrival of election materials.

It added that the “much-publicised” benefits of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and the online results viewing portal were not “realised” during the election.

“INEC failed to live up to the voters’ expectations because of the delays in the delivery of voting materials in some centres.

“Compared to previous Nigerian elections, the conduct of this election was generally peaceful in spite of some flashpoints of violence, voter intimidation, and underage voting.

“The much-publicised benefits of the new technologies of BVAS and iRev were not realised due to man-made errors that could have been avoided.”