Malfunctioning BVAS, Apathy, Late Arrival of Materials Mar FCT Council Polls

Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Voter apathy, late arrival of materials as well as electoral officials and malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) marred yesterday’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council elections.

A coalition of election monitoring group under the aegis of Yiaga Africa also yesterday released its preliminary reports, identifying late commencement of polls, poor functionality of the BVAS machines, communication glitches among other operational deficiencies that characterised the Council polls.

Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made up mainly of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members arrived at most of the voting centres two to three hours behind the 8:30 am official commencement of voting.

In most of the places, when accreditation finally commenced, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device failed to function or was very slow as a result of a poor network.

Apart from Polling Unit 007 located at LEA Primary School in Mpape, Bwari Council Area, which witnessed a massive turnout of voters, there was serious voter apathy at most of the Polling Units.

In Karu, Abuja Municipal Council Area (AMAC), voters failed to turn up at most of the centres.

At polling unit 010 at AYA Roundabout, the BVAS device was non-functional leading to the disenfranchisement of voters in the area.

The presiding officer in charge of the PU said they had called the INEC office over the problem but were yet to get feedback.

At another polling unit, 055 opposite Furnishing Centre, Karu, though the BVAS was functioning, the INEC officials there said not one person had turned up to vote until around 1 pm.

At polling unit 077, Itsekiri Way, Karu, the INEC officials said even one person did not turn up to vote.

INEC attributed the late arrival of election materials and staff to fuel scarcity that delayed some of the drivers held up at petrol stations.

INEC Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, when contacted, said the Polling Units opened before 8 am, adding that the Ad hoc Staff were also deployed on time.

The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Mr. Samson Itodo, at a press conference, attributed the late opening of polling stations to poor logistics and security problems.

Itodo said polling officials encountered difficulty in locating assigned polling units, including late arrival of police officers at the registration area centres.

He said, “For instance, several polling units in Abuja Municipal Area Council especially Gwarimpa and Orozo ward opened late as polling officials couldn’t deploy without security protection, on average accreditation and voting commenced at 10am in most polling units observed.”

Speaking on the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, Yiaga said its observation showed that in some cases the BVAS failed to authenticate both the fingerprints and facial biometrics of voters in some polling units.

The organisation also identified voter disenfranchisement as a result of missing names on the voter register, despite some voters having Permanent Voter Cards.