The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has increased the number of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, devices for the August 15 Osun State Governorship Election, following concerns over the adequacy of the machines for the poll.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, disclosed this on Saturday in Osogbo during an interactive session with media executives, saying the number of BVAS devices had been increased from 4,427 to 5,130.
He said the Commission also doubled the number of backup devices from 664 to 1,328 to ensure that technical challenges do not disrupt accreditation on election day.
According to Amupitan, the additional devices were provided particularly to cater for split polling units in areas with large voter populations, including parts of Ife East, Irewole, Egbedore, Ede North and Osogbo.
The INEC Chairman spoke shortly after leading National Commissioners, the Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner, directors and technical teams to selected polling units across the state for a mock accreditation exercise.
He said the exercise was designed to test the resilience of the BVAS under field conditions ahead of the election.
Amupitan disclosed that the mock exercise recorded voter verification times ranging from about 30 seconds to two minutes using either fingerprint or facial recognition.
He said the outcome had strengthened the Commission’s confidence in its technological preparations for the election.
With 15 days to the poll, INEC says preparations have reached an advanced stage, with 2,339,233 registered voters expected to participate across 3,763 polling units, 320 wards and 30 Local Government Areas.Fourteen political parties are also expected to contest the election.
The Commission is deploying about 32,000 NYSC members as part of its ad-hoc workforce, while training for election officials is nearing completion.But beyond technology and logistics, security remains a major concern for the Commission.
Amupitan said INEC had activated its Electoral Risk Management framework to identify vulnerable areas and anticipate possible threats before election day.He listed parts of Atakunmosa East and West, Boripe, Ede North and South, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Ila, Osogbo, Ifelodun and Oriade among areas requiring heightened attention.
He said the Commission was working with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, to provide intelligence-led deployments around polling units, collation centres and other critical locations.The INEC Chairman also addressed recent incidents involving the theft of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in the state.
He revealed that three batches of uncollected PVCs were stolen during an attack on the Commission’s office in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, on July 26, while another incident occurred in Ife Central on Friday.Amupitan, however, assured affected voters that the stolen cards could not be used by anyone else to cast a ballot.
He explained that possession of a PVC alone is not enough to vote, as the legitimate voter must undergo biometric verification through BVAS.
The Commission, he said, would blacklist the serial numbers of the stolen cards and make arrangements for affected voters to obtain replacement cards or use downloadable PVCs where applicable.
The INEC Chairman added that the Commission was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to tackle the growing sophistication of vote-buying.
He said the practice was increasingly moving from cash transactions at polling units to digital transfers and other forms of financial inducement.
According to him, anti-corruption personnel would be deployed around polling areas to detect and apprehend individuals involved in the buying or selling of votes.
Amupitan also appealed to media organisations to guard against misinformation, disinformation and unauthorised declarations of election results.
He urged journalists to verify reports before publication and avoid presenting isolated technical challenges at individual polling units as evidence of a statewide failure.
The Commission, he stressed, remains committed to ensuring that the outcome of the election reflects the genuine choice of Osun voters.
“We do not care who wins the election; we only care how they win,” the INEC Chairman said.He described the August 15 election as an important test of Nigeria’s electoral system ahead of the 2027 General Elections, urging political parties, security agencies, traditional institutions, civil society organisations and the media to work together to ensure a peaceful and credible poll.