In order to Inspect the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, the National Electoral Commission (INEC) has moved the Saturday 11th governorship and state Assembly elections to March 18.

In a statement by National Commissioner Festus Okoye, the commission stated that the commission has taken the difficult decision to make sure that the machines work adequately during the remaining elections.

Okoye noted the ruling of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, which allowed the commission to reconfigure the BVAS machines came “far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded.

He stated that the BVAS could only be activated on the specific date and time of an election.

The statement read “Consequently, the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the governorship and state Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18th March 2023.”

“Haven been used for the presidential and National Assembly elections on 25th February 2023, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the governorship and state Assembly elections,” he stated.

“The postponement is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the presidential and National Assembly elections held on 25th February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the governorship and state Assembly elections.

“This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the commission was using the Smart Card Readers.”

“NEC is not against litigants inspecting election materials. We will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.

“We wish to reassure all political parties and candidates that the data from the presidential and National Assembly elections will be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

“Political parties can apply for certified true copies of the backend data of the BVAS. Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access.”