The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has increased the number of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices for the August 15 Osun State governorship election from 4,427 to 5,130, while doubling backup units from 664 to 1,328 to ensure seamless voter accreditation.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), announced the decision on Saturday in Osogbo during an interactive session with media executives, 15 days before the election.
He said the additional devices were deployed in response to concerns raised by political parties and findings from the mock accreditation exercise conducted earlier in the day across polling units in Osogbo, Oriade and other local government areas.
Describing the exercise as a “quality assurance protocol,” Amupitan said it was designed to test the Commission’s technological infrastructure under real election conditions.
According to him, the BVAS recorded an average accreditation time of between 30 seconds and two minutes using either fingerprint or facial recognition.
He said the extra devices would be deployed to split polling units in Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North and Osogbo local government areas.
“Based on concerns expressed by some political parties on the number of BVAS deployed to the state, we increased the total number from 4,427 to 5,130. We also increased the number of backup machines from 664 to 1,328 for quick intervention in the event of any malfunction,” he said.
Amupitan added that technical support engineers had been assigned to every Registration Area and Ward with backup BVAS units to ensure immediate replacement of faulty devices.
“What we saw today confirms that our technological defence against identity theft and result manipulation is robust and fully operational,” he stated.
The INEC chairman disclosed that 2,339,233 registered voters are expected to vote at 3,763 polling units across 320 wards in the state’s 30 local government areas.
He said 14 political parties would participate in the election, while training of ad hoc personnel was nearing completion.
According to him, about 32,000 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members recruited through the sanitised INECPRES portal will be deployed for the exercise.
“We did not want to speak to you from an air-conditioned boardroom in Abuja or rely solely on paperwork. We went to the theatres of operation to see for ourselves how our systems are holding up,” he said.
On security, Amupitan said INEC had shifted from “reactive monitoring to proactive prevention” through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
“We are working closely with the Police and the Armed Forces to ensure that our staff, our materials and, most importantly, every voter is protected. We will meet any attempt to disrupt this election with the full weight of the law,” he warned.
The chairman also confirmed recent attacks on INEC offices in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, and Ife Central, during which Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were stolen.
He, however, assured affected voters that the stolen cards could not be used to vote because accreditation requires live biometric verification through the BVAS.
“I have directed the ICT Director to ensure the reprinting of the stolen PVCs and/or ensure that affected voters can use the downloadable PVC during this election,” he said.
Amupitan said the Commission had made special arrangements to ensure inclusive participation, including braille ballot guides for visually impaired voters, magnifying glasses for persons with low vision and albinism, EC40H posters for hearing impaired voters, and priority voting for persons with disabilities, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly.
He also urged media organisations to verify information before publication, warning that misinformation and unauthorised election results pose significant threats to public confidence.
“The greatest threat we face is not technical failure but misinformation and disinformation.
Fake news, manufactured election-day panics and the unauthorised declaration of parallel results are direct assaults on public peace and democratic stability,” he said.
Reaffirming the Commission’s neutrality, Amupitan said INEC remained committed to conducting a credible election.
“We do not care who wins the election; we only care how they win. Our responsibility is to ensure the process is transparent, every valid vote counts and the declared result reflects the true will of the Osun electorate,” he said.
The interactive session was attended by INEC National Commissioners, Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Oluwatoyin Babalola, leaders of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), and other senior officials of the Commission.
