APC makes U-turn on BVAS after backlash

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, denied reports of being against the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Results Viewing Portal (IReV) proposed for deployment by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2023 elections.

National Publicity Secretary of APC, Felix Morka, issued the rebuttal at a press conference in Abuja, saying the report is an unfair misrepresentation of Adamu’s comments.

What caused the backlash: It was reported that the chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, had expressed doubts over INEC’s capacity to deliver a credible election using the BVAS. He made the comment while addressing a Commonwealth delegation on the 2023 general elections who paid a courtesy visit to him at the party secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, November 23. 2022.

A statement made available to Pulse read: “A section of the media is awash with comments credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the Results Viewing Portal, otherwise known as electronic transmission of election results, for the 2023 general elections.

“Media reports that chairman Adamu kicked against INEC’s decision to deploy BVAS and electronic transmission of results is patently false, and constitutes an unfair misrepresentation of the national chairman’s comments.

“At a meeting with the Commonwealth pre-election delegation, yesterday, Wednesday, November 23, 2022, in response to a question regarding the country’s preparations for next year’s election, the national chairman noted that while preparations were in top gear, he tasked INEC to take effective steps to bridge any gaps that may be created by electricity and telecommunications network challenges in certain outlying voting districts in the country in order to ensure a smooth and successful deployment of BVAS and other technologies to ensure free and transparent elections."

What made it worse: Presidential Campaign Organisation for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, insisted the alleged initial rejection of the BVAS by Adamu confirmed that APC and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, did not have genuine followership among Nigerians ahead of the 2023 elections.