February 15, 2023

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) says those against the planned deployment of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) for the elections should make their reservations known with sufficient proof if they have any at all.

“At this stage, we believe in INEC, we believe in what they have done,” NEF Spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said Tuesday on The 2023 Verdict, a Channels Television’s special election programme.

There is no reason to doubt the credibility and capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair, and credible elections on February 25 and March 11.

Baba-Ahmed said, “We have not found any basis for doubting the credibility or the competence of INEC to conduct an election.

“In the North, we haven’t seen any evidence that they will compromise, partisan or support of any candidate.

“There have been massive improvements in their processes and I believe in the leadership of INEC. I believe given the chance, they will deliver a very credible election.”

There have been reports of late that politicians who are against the BVAS attempt to use the court of law to stop INEC from deploying BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in next year’s elections but the electoral body has consistently restated its commitment and determination to deploy the system for the 2023 general elections.

BVAS is stipulated in the Electoral Act 2022 and it is a technological system that allows the accreditation of voters through biometrics capturing, uploading of results amongst others.

It has been described by many as an upgrade of the smartcard reader used in the last general elections which achieved some results in the country’s electoral process.