The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday, May 30, 2022 ran a mock exercise with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in Ekiti, ahead of the state’s governorship election.
June 18, 2022, Ekiti governorship election will be the second governorship election where the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be deployed for the accreditation of voters as the BVAS has been deployed for the accreditation of voters in the Isoko-South 1 State Constituency bye-election in Delta State in September 2021.
The BVAS meant to facilitates the accreditation of voters on election day was also deployed in the November 2021 Anambra governorship election, the February 2022 FCT Area Council Election and in the March 2022 bye-elections in Ondo, Cross Rivers, Jos and Imo States.
Speaking to reporters during the exercise, INEC’s Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said the exercise had been a success.
“We said we are going to do a mock-test in a few local government areas to further test the functionality of the machines before the election,” Yakubu said. “And so far, so good with the mock.
“We have visited one of the polling centres in Ado; we are here in Ikere. From there we go to Irepodun/Ifelodun local government for the same reason.
“And overall assessment is that we are happy with the functionality of the machines.”
The INEC Chairman added that the electoral umpire was also interested in the readiness of facilities for the election.
“As you can see, we have renovated the Ikere local government office, just as we have done with many other local government offices. These are not administrative facilities; they are also electoral assets.”