Ahead of the 2023 elections and against the backdrop of stakeholders’ scepticism trailing the functionality and efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured voters of a seamless and non-manipulative balloting system devoid of electoral irregularities.

Kristina Reports checks with traders at the popular Mile 3 Market in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday, November 29, 2022 to ascertain their level of readiness to vote in the upcoming elections was an eye opener as to the perception of Nigerian voters towards the 2023 polls.

The traders displayed resentment towards the present federal Government and apathy to vote in the coming election with excuses that their vote won’t count because it did not also count in the past.

One of the traders, who identified himself only as Udemli, objected to voting at all, indicating, however, that he would collect monies shared by politicians during campaigns and voting, expressing doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari, whoever he is, would be different.

“I no go vote, I will never try it; if they bring money, I go collect clean mouth sef because what is this? Don’t even ask me that kind of question, how much is a cup of garri, what can you buy with N500, abi person wey go take over from Buhari dey different? Na the same cabal”.

Another trader, Chibuzor Kalu said he was poised to vote and encouraged everyone to also get ready to exercise their franchise, lamenting, however, that he was yet to get his PVC as INEC officials told him at their office that it was not ready when he went there in October.  

“I will love to vote oh, but I don’t have my PVC. The last time I went to check, they said it’s not ready, that was last month, but I’ll go and check. I believe that my vote will count, let everybody get ready to vote, let’s change this situation we find our self.”

On his part, another trader, Divine Amuso thumbed down the elections, saying he would not be going out to vote as, according to him, the outcome of the polls was already settled among politicians, expressing fears of electoral violence that may result in deaths, informing that he would rather use the day for resting.  

“They should get out, I won’t vote. I will use that election day as my holiday and resting period. No be me go go die. They already have who they want to make president, nothing concern me.”

Another trader, who identified himself only as Samuel dismissed the process, describing it as a waste of time, saying that, “you and I are wasting our time. We know wetin dey, sha I’ll vote even if it won’t count”.

Also adding his voice, another trader, Eze said, “my sister, make them no flog you here o. who go vote for who? I can never try it, this una stupid country, abeg make ona get out”.

But reacting to this, the Head of Voter Education and Publicity Department, INEC Rivers State, Mark Usulor told Kristina Reports that votes will count in the coming elections with the use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), stressing that the various technology already deployed ahead of the election would bolster the integrity and credibility of the 2023 polls.

“Why I want to let you know that their vote will count is the recent signing of the Electoral Act 2022, the innovations there and more so, the legitimisation of the usage of electronics in our process towards election.”

“Section 47 (2) and 50 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 has legitimised the usage of BVAS in accreditation of would-be voters and usage of technology. The BVAS component to remit results is the Result Viewing Portal.”

“The machine is configured to register voters, it is equally configured to accredit, it will be equally configured to transmit results into our INEC portal called Result Viewing Portal, this is where we can view the result of the day on the election day and equally, it showcases transparency and absolute professionalism in our electioneering process.”

He further expounded the procedures involved in collating voter’s data, which, according to him, would ensure the smoothness of the process and make it immune to manipulations and rigging during the voting process.

“Section 51 of the Electoral Act says that you must come to the polling unit with your PVC and pass through the accreditation before you vote and by so doing, the number of those accredited are the people to vote.”

“We are no longer checking those that are eligible to vote via the number in the register because that was what was obtainable when we were using smartcard reader. Now, we are using Bimodal Voter Accreditation System whereby your face will be captured and your fingerprint will be taken.”

“If that is not done, then there is an anomaly in the polling unit; they will reject the result that is coming from that polling unit. That is why overvoting now has now been countered via that accreditation. That is where we check overvoting.”

“If the number surpasses the number accredited, we will cancel the polling unit. We don’t have what we call Incident Form Usage; via that incident form, people manipulate result of the day, especially, the party agents.”