Human rights lawyer and former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba, has stated that the role of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, was misrepresented by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in the just concluded general elections.
Agbakoba said this on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme monitored by News About Nigeria, said that BVAS was a mere tool for voter accreditation unlike how it was represented to Nigerians by the National Assembly in the enactment of the Electoral Act 2023.
He said, “If you listen to the chairman of the election management body, the INEC, he made clear to us, ad nauseam, BVAS is the magic; and it turns out BVAS wasn’t the magic.
“And I had the unfortunate displeasure of actually checking what exactly is BVAS in the law, and I was shocked that actually BVAS is not what we thought was represented to us by the National Assembly in the enactment of the electoral act 2023.”
The legal expert further stated that BVAS was merely for voters accreditation and may not be important in the petition before the election tribunal.
“To summarize, BVAS is no more than a tool to accredit a voter. I suspect, without saying that’s the way to go, I suspect BVAS is not that important in the petition as we think because the Osun Court of Appeal decision did not accept the argument by the appellant that the BVAS is the magic that determines over voting.”
