Emmanuel blames INEC for Bimodal Voter Accreditation System failure

Ini Billie, Uyo

The Akwa Ibom Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel has blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the failure of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in some polling units in the state.

Speaking on Saturday in his country home in Awa, Onna local government area after casting his vote, Emmanuel described the failure of the BVAS as human error and not machine error.

“There are some wards that complained that their BVAS was not working, but there is one they discovered now that the person forgot the password, you know these things are novel to us but how can you forget the password and you want to log into the system?

“In that case, INEC should not be blamed but still you need to partly blame them because they trained those people and should expose them very well, even right now there are some units in Uyo where BVAS are not working but from what I’ve noticed a lot of them are human errors and not machine errors.

“My advice to INEC is since we are having these teething problems, they should extend the time for voting and also people at the centre shouldn’t leave because once you are at the centre, INEC must attend to you even if it is by 6:00 pm,” he stated.

It was gathered that many voters could not vote due to the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in some polling units across the state.

It was learnt that the affected BVAS include that of Units 23, Unit 5 and the market square in the Uyo local government area were not working.

One of the voters who spoke on condition of anonymity said he was disappointed with INEC over the failure of BVAS.

“We came out very early but nothing is happening because the BVAS in Units 23, 5, and market square all at Anua, Uyo not working. Officials of INEC are helpless. This kind of situation is an indication that INEC was not prepared,” he said. Voting is expected to stop by 2 pm across the country.