By Samuel Ogude(Warri)
The Governorship and House of Assembly elections earlier scheduled to take place on the 11th March, 2023 has been rescheduled to take place on the 18th March, 2023. In a press release signed by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee , Barr. Festus Okoye and made available to newsmen on Wednesday, said, after the ruling by the Presidential Election Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential election held on the 25th February 2023, the Commission met to look at the impact of the Commission’s readiness for the Governorship and State Houses Assembly elections earlier scheduled for Saturday,11th March,2023.
According to him, since lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection of the BVAS could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the election saying, that the BVAS could be activated on the specific date and time of the election. He said, since the BVAS had earlier been used for both elections, it is necessary for it to be reconfigured and activated for effective elections to take place.
Part of the statement reads:” The Commission approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS systems were to be deployed for Governorship and State Assembly elections and lack of a clearly defined timeframe for inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding election..”
According to Barr. Okoye said, while the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the Commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded hence the body has rescheduled the election saying, this is to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National election Assembly held on the 25th February, 2023 and then, reconfigure them for the Governorship and House Assembly adding, that it is the practice for all elections including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Cards Readers.
According to him, meanwhile, campaign of different political parties can continue until midnight of Thursday 16th March 2023 hours before the date of the election. The INEC boss said the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials just as he said he would grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.
Part of the statement reads:” However, we wish to reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials .Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they are required to pursue cases in court”.
According to Barr. Okoye, the Commission will answer all political parties and candidate that data from the Presidential and National Assembly election will be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) as parties can apply for Certified True Copy of the backend data of the BVAS just as he said the results on the BVAS will continue be available on the IReV for those parties so interested to access.
It would be recalled that on the3rd March, 2023, the Presidential EPT had given an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for presidential election and that of forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country.