Kogi: INEC dismisses claims on alteration of voters’ figures

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected claims on the alteration of voters’ figures for the Kogi State governorship election on its Results View Portal (iReV).

The commission had on Sunday night declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Usman Ododo, as the winner of the Kogi State governorship election held 24 hours earlier.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the state, Dino Melaye, in a Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, rejected the outcome of the election over alleged fraud.

He accused the commission of allocating votes in the exercise.

But in a statement issued by its National Commissioner and Member, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna described the claims as “unfounded.”

The commission stressed that the most accurate and up-to-date voters’ accreditation data was available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the authentication and accreditation of voters at various polling units on election day.

The statement read: “The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) attention has been drawn to some media reports alleging that the Commission was tampering with the accredited figures of voters in the Kogi Governorship Election results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. However, these reports are unfounded.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the most accurate and up-to-date Voters’ Accreditation Data is available in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is used for the authentication and accreditation of registered voters at various polling units on election day. It automatically retains the accreditation data of all voters.

“The BVAS is designed to primarily work offline without Internet connectivity, which facilitates faster and seamless authentication and accreditation experience for voters.

READ ALSO: INEC declares Usman Odo as winner of Kogi governorship election

“However, when its application is active or in use, depending on the strength of its connection to the Internet, the BVAS automatically exports the accreditation data to the Accreditation Backend System (ABS).

“This exportation of data does not happen when the device’s application is inactive or when the internet connectivity is poor. The same experience applies to a situation where more than one BVAS gadget is used at a polling unit with more than 1,250 registered voters.

“This could be compared to a situation when poor network services delay the delivery of an SMS sent from one individual to another through a mobile phone.

“At the close of the poll, Presiding Officers are expected to press the data exportation button on the BVAS to ensure that all the accreditation data are exported to the ABS.

“This process referred to as synchronization which is ongoing, could lead to changes in the accreditation figures as more data flows in to update the existing figures.

“This is the basis for the caveat provided on the IReV portal, regarding the accreditation figures. The accreditation data cannot be changed on the BVAS after the close of the poll. The public should disregard the misleading report and misinformation.”

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