CDD blames BVAS glitches for the delay in the 2023 elections

News Agency Of Nigeria

February 26, 2023 7:01 AM

The CDD's election report revealed that there was mass late commencement.

Nigerians participated in the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 2023

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has said that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) contributed to delays in voting in some places.

CDD made this known in its statement on the conduct of Saturday's General Elections in Abuja.

Prof. Adele Jinadu, the chairperson of the CDD Election Analysis Centre (CDD-EAC), said that the preliminary statement provided an overview of the CDD-EAC findings on the conduct of the elections based on observer data received and analysed.

Jinadu said that the report revealed that there was mass late commencement.

"Our observer data indicated late arrival of poll officials to their respective polling units across the country on Election Day.

"Observer data showed the availability of one BVAS device in 98.8 per cent of polling units.

"However, there have been reports of various glitches during the accreditation process, which contributed to delays in voting in places such as Borno State."

Jinadu said that the South East and South-South recorded the lowest percentage of poll officials arriving on time.

He added that In the South East, only 10% of poll officials arrived at their respective polling units on time and in the South-South it was 27%.

He said that in the North East, 42% of poll officials got to their polling units on time whilst in the North West, North Central and South West the figure was over 50%.

He said that Lagos, the state with the highest number of registered voters recorded just 18% in terms of timely arrival of INEC officials.

Jinadu said that the average opening time across the country was 9:25 am; that was a clear one hour after polling was scheduled to start.

Jinadu said CDD commended Nigerians for their determination to vote and encouraged them to remain patient as they cast their ballot.

He asked them to prevent people who wanted to try and disrupt the process.

He said that CDD urged the security agencies to ensure that they remained neutral in their electoral day activities and actions.

It also commended INEC for its continued responsive communication with voters and all key stakeholders.

News Agency Of Nigeria