By NewsBits
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has promised Nigerians that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used in the forthcoming governorship and state legislature elections.
However, millions of Nigerians at home and in the diaspora may have lost hope in the promises of the INEC boss based on the malpractices that marred the election of the president on February 25. But Yakubu went ahead to give the promise on Saturday in a meeting with all Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
He said that the BVAS machines will be used for the elections, though the devices are being worked on to avoid a repeat of the glitches recorded with the last Saturday’s elections. The agenda of the meeting was not disclosed to the media; however, journalists were invited to cover the opening.
This meeting is holding exactly one week after the presidential and National Assembly elections, and one week to the governorship and state assembly elections. In his welcome remarks, the INEC Chairman noted that the meeting is to review performances at the last week’s elections, adding that there are lessons to be learnt from last week’s elections, especially as it relates to logistics management.
He urged the RECs to work harder to ensure that the governorship elections do not experience the same glitches recorded with the last elections, while calling for disciplining of staff who err during the process. We can however recall that the INEC Chairman also issued similar threat to INEC staff who disregarded the warning and colluded in messing up the last elections.
