Ahead of the off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states in November, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would conduct mock accreditation using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and upload polling units results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The exercise will be held simultaneously across the three states on 14 October, according to a statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
Mr Olumekun said the mock accreditation will be held in 27 polling units, three in each senatorial district of the states.
“As was the case in recent off-cycle governorship elections, the commission will conduct a mock accreditation using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and upload polling units results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). The test run will take place simultaneously in the three states on Saturday 14th October 2023 from 8.30am to 2.30pm,” he said.
“Lessons learnt from the exercise will be taken into consideration in ensuring a seamless process on Election Day.”
The commission had scheduled the off-cycle elections for Saturday 11 November.
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INEC said it has uploaded the list of polling units participating in the mock accreditation on its website and social media platforms.
The commission, therefore, appealed to voters in the selected polling units to turn up with their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for the exercise.
“The public is advised that this is strictly a test accreditation exercise and not the actual election,” it concluded.
The three states are among the eight states where off-cycle governorship polls are held at different times due to previous litigation. The other states are Anambra, Osun, Ekiti, Edo and Ondo States.
IRev malfunctioning
Although the BVAS and IReV performed satisfactorily during the mock accreditation held before the 25 February general election, the latter failed to function properly during the actual elections, making it a case point of appeal by candidates who lost in the election.
The candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Labour party who came second and third respectively in the elections have appealed the outcome at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
The PEPC had affirmed the victory of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, whom INEC declared the winner of the presidential election on 1 March.
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