Mike Igini, former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State reacts to comments on use of BVAS emanating from the recent tribunal judgment in Osun State. KEHINDE OLATUNJI was there.
Since you left INEC, you have been doing advocacy on the new Electoral Act and the advantages in the BVAS technology. What do you make of the claim of over-voting ruling by the Tribunal in Osun?
As many of you have come to know, my commitment and votary at all times is about the integrity and credibility of the process and outcome for society and not about who wins election; that should be left for voters to determine. So, let us be clear, the tribunal did not make any adverse or negative finding against the BVAS per se, but on the propriety of three reports of accreditation data; and the resultant attempts by people to discredit the BVAS is of interest, given that the BVAS will be used in the general election and many Nigerians are worried by what they read on social media that are completely false about BVAS.
In effect, are you saying that the judgment of the Tribunal validated the usefulness of the BVAS?
The integrity of the BVAS has not been impeached; the tribunal actually affirmed our longstanding efforts to enthrone the principle of one-person-one vote and the value of electoral accountability in the system through the use of the BVAS. This technology allows for meaningful auditing of every vote that must be counted and taken into account to determine the winner of any election, now, at the polling units and no longer at results collation centers; either at Wards, LGAs or other levels of collation. The use of BVAS is a matter of law and procedure as mandated by the 2022 Act and there is no going back on it. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to be worried about the device. In fact, the tribunal itself relied on one of the reports of the BVAS, which is the ultimate primary source of ascertaining data of accredited voters to make its final declaration and that reinforced the integrity and credibility of the BVAS.
