INEC Fixes Feb. 4 For Nationwide Mock Voter Accreditation, Deploys 436 BVAS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced plans to conduct mock accreditation of voters across the country on Saturday, February 4, 2023, to prove the robustness of its machines ahead of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of INEC, disclosed this at his meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) on Friday in Abuja.

No fewer than 436 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines would be deployed for the mock accreditation to be held in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“..the Commission is conducting a mock accreditation of voters similar to what was done ahead of the recent Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections,” said the INEC boss.

“The mock accreditation will hold on Saturday 4th February 2023 in 436 polling units nationwide. Twelve polling units have been designated in each State of the Federation and four in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the equality of the country’s 109 Senatorial Districts for the exercise.

“A comprehensive list of the polling units, including their names and PU Code numbers, as well as their distribution by State, Senatorial District, Local Government and Registration Area (Ward) will be uploaded to the Commission’s website shortly.”

Yakubu urged registered voters who fall under the selected polling units to make themselves available for the exercise.

“Doing so will help to reassure the public of the robustness of our system and to strengthen our processes ahead of the General Election. Civil society organisations, the media and the general public are welcome to observe the process. At the end of the exercise, the 436 BVAS machines involved will be reconfigured before they are deployed for the General Election,” he added.

After the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, INEC will conduct governorship and state assembly elections on March 11.

Speaking the further on the commission’s preparedness for the elections, he said the “movement of materials for the election to various locations nationwide is being concluded. Training of officials will commence shortly. Ongoing consultations with stakeholders will be intensified. Airlifting and delivery of sensitive materials to States of the Federation has gone far.

“Accreditation of national and international observers and the media is being finalised. Critical service providers in the area of transportation have reassured us of their commitment to efficient logistics for the movement of materials and personnel to various locations while the security agencies have reaffirmed their readiness for the election.”

According to Yakubu, INEC is considering additional measures to ensure that all citizens are able collect their PVCs before the elections, 839,720 out of the 940,200 new and transferred PVCs have been collected by the owners.

This represents 89.3% of the total figure of the newly printed voter cards for the state.