Improve BVAS, end vote buying, TMG tells INEC

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a civil society organisation (CSO), has called for the improvement of Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Technical glitches were experienced with the BVAS in the Anambra governorship election on November 6 which caused a delay in voting in some LGAs.

In a statement on Wednesday, Auwal Rafsanjani, TMG chairman, also called on the leadership of the security agencies to investigate and charge to court all security operatives who engaged in violation of human rights, and gross misconduct during the election.

He said the pre-election season which witnessed a lot of violence that affected campaign rallies of the various parties, eventually led to low voter turnout which he said is bad for “our democracy”.

“The stand of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the strong presence of security operatives had an effect on how voters came out to exercise their franchise,” he said.

He asked the government to stand up to the challenges of insecurity in the country, so that the 2023 elections will not witness voters’ disinterest, as was the case in Anambra.

Rafsanjani said: “Voters were seen selling their votes for as low as N2000. In some cases, the security operatives looked away while vote buying was going on at some polling units.”

He, however, commended residents of Ebenebe Community, Awka north, particularly women for publicly resisting vote buying in their polling unit, asking “Nigerians to emulate the sterling example demonstrated by these heroines of the elections”.

Similarly, Miriam Menkiti, vice-chairman of the group, lamented the poor functioning of the BVAS.

“It is shocking that despite the consistent statement by INEC that the card readers were all set for the elections, we still witnessed a high rate of poor connection of the BVAM in various part of the state,” she said.

“TMG appeals to INEC to live up to the task of providing smooth elections for Nigerians in the 2023 general elections which will be cumbersome and overstretch the electoral empire.”