BVAS Rejected Me 10 Times, Medical Doctor Laments

Offordile Fabian Onah, a medical doctor, Tuesday, expressed sadness over his inability to cast his votes during the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.

Dr Onah told THE WHISTLER that he was duly registered at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission located at the headquarters of Udenu LGA of Enugu State.

In his words, “BVAS rejected me ten times. It couldn’t recognise my face as well. It was embarrassing. My fingerprints, both left and right, were all rejected. Nothing was recognised.

“They didn’t give me any reason, except that I couldn’t vote, and I didn’t vote. I never registered twice.”

He said he wished the candidates he wanted to cast his votes success, adding that, “I am not holding any bad feeling to anybody because electronically anything can happen, and it has happened in my own case, and I thank God for that. No explanation was provided as to what happened.”

An official of INEC, who did not want his name mentioned, said the cause of rejecting some duly registered voters could be old age.

In his words, “We do have such cases, but very few. Some might have registered a long time ago. Those registered recently might not have this case. Some of the cases could be a result of old age. Some of them have their thump prints defaced. In that case, the BVAS might be unable to capture them because it is biometrics. Some have dried palms.

“But then the photo capture should be able to solve that case. It is because of such cases that eligible voters were asked to update their records with INEC to avoid data variations ahead of these elections. Some people did not take it seriously. Those who updated won’t have this case.

“Under this circumstance, they may not be able to vote. But then INEC has provisions for such, only that some of the ad-hoc staff did not get the training well. The officials should check such persons’ information on the database. If the information is there, they should be eligible to vote. But some of the ad-hoc staff did not get the comprehensive training because there was no time.”