The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted reports stating that the accredited number of voters in the just concluded Kogi State governorship election results uploaded on its Result Viewing portal, were tampered with.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission’s attention has been drawn to some media reports alleging that the commission was tampering with the accredited figures of voters in the Kogi governorship election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. However, these reports are unfounded,” it said.
The commission, in a statement by its National Commissioner and Member Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, on Tuesday and posted on its X handle noted that “the most accurate and up-to-date Voters’ Accreditation Data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day. It automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters.”
According to the electoral body, the BVAS is designed to primarily work offline without Internet connectivity, which facilitates faster and more seamless authentication and accreditation experience for voters.
It added that “when its application is active or in use, depending on the strength of its connection to the Internet, the BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the Accreditation Backend System.
“This exportation of data does not happen when the device’s application is inactive or when the internet connectivity is poor. The same experience applies to a situation where more than one BVAS gadget is used at a polling unit with more than 1,250 registered voters.
“This could be compared to a situation when poor network services delay the delivery of an SMS sent from one individual to another through a mobile phone.
“To ensure that all the accreditation data are exported to the ABS, Haruna stated that Presiding Officers are expected to press the data exportation button on the BVAS at the close of poll.
“This process, referred to as synchronization and which is ongoing, could lead to changes in the accreditation figures as more data flow in to update the existing figures. This is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures.
“The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of poll.”
INEC had announced Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress winner of the November 11 governorship election in the State.
Ododo won with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party, who garnered 259,052, while Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party pulled 46,362 votes.
