By Dapo Akinrefon
The Imole Campaign Council has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently address complaints of malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices at several polling units across Osun State.
The campaign council, in a statement by its spokesperson, Pelumi Olajengbesi, described the reported technical challenges as disturbing, alleging that some BVAS devices were unable to capture the faces of elderly voters.
The statement read: “The Imole Campaign Council alerts the whole world that many of the local governments where BVAS malfunctions have been recorded are the strongholds of the Accord Party and Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“In fact, at the governor’s polling unit, Unit 009, Ward 02, Agbogunde Sagba, in Ede North LGA, BVAS machines have either malfunctioned or have been annoyingly slow, frustrating voters who stood in the queue for hours under the scorching sun.
“The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) Situation Room, an independent civil society organisation, confirmed BVAS failures at polling units in local government areas such as Egbedore, Ife Central, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Ifelodun, Oriade and Ilesa East.
“The situation is deeply concerning as some BVAS machines could not capture the faces of most elderly voters at the polling units, forcing them to leave the queue after hours of standing.”
The council called on INEC to immediately resolve the reported technical problems before the conclusion of voting.
It warned that failure to address the challenges could disenfranchise eligible voters.
“The Imole Campaign Council calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission to immediately rectify these anomalies before voting ends. Anything apart from this is an automatic disenfranchisement, which is not acceptable and a slap on democracy,” the statement added.
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