The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has extended voting till in the Anambra State governorship election till Sunday, following the massive failure of the Biomodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.
INEC had earlier in the day extended voting from 2:30 pm to 4 pm on Saturday.
The extension of voting to Sunday was because the BVAS failed in many areas due to a software breach, the INEC resident electoral commissioner, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, explained at a press briefing in Awka, the state capital, late on Saturday.
He said voting would commence by 8.30 am and close at 4pm on Sunday.
He said the revised closing time would apply to areas where polling units opened after 8.30 am.
“In line with existing regulations and guidelines of the commission, any intending voter who is in the queue by 4 pm shall be allowed to vote. All Polling Units staff must comply with this directive,” Orji said.
“The time extension arose out of several field reports that voters had problems with accreditation. The commission is currently investigating the reason the accreditation devices, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, worked perfectly in some polling units but not in others. In some of the cases, it would seem that this resulted from software glitches.
“Our technicians have already built an update for the device software to prevent further challenges. The update is currently being installed in the concerned BVAS and we request voters, candidates, and agents to be patient and allow our technical staff to solve the problem.
“The commission wishes to reiterate that in cases of sustained malfunction of the BVAS, the Presiding Officer must inform the voters and polling agents that accreditation and voting for the affected polling unit shall continue tomorrow or at another time determined by the commission.”
According to him, no registered voter would be disenfranchised. The REC bemoaned the fact that some of the ad hoc staff and transporters engaged by the Commission to move voting materials and personnel did not show up.
“Our deployment has also been adversely affected by transport challenges in some locations. It must be noted that on account of security concerns, some of the transporters that were mobilised and collected 50 percent of their sign-on fee backed out at the last moment, leaving some of our ad hoc staff stranded.
“Also, some of the trained ad hoc staff backed out at the last moment. The commission is on top of these challenges and extant regulations and guidelines will be applied on a case-by-case basis.
“Consequently, we are harvesting areas where voting will realistically no longer take place today, including places where substantial disruption has occurred to enable a possible recommencement of voting at another time, in line with extant laws and the regulations and guidelines of the commission.
“We appeal to all voters, candidates, stakeholders, communities and political parties to remain calm and law-abiding. We assure you that the commission is determined to make all votes count.”
Notable personalities who waited for long before voting included Charles Soludo the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, who waited for over 6 hours to vote at about 5:10 pm on Saturday due to the failure of the accrediting machine at his ward, Isuofia Ward 13, Unit 002 in the Aguata LGA.
It was the same experience for the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who was delayed for long before voting at his Alor ward in Idemili South local government area.
The election was characterised by voter apathy, which party agents have blamed on the general level of insecurity that preceded the voting on Saturday.
The federal government deployed a combined team of the army, police, and other security forces whose presence encouraged people to turn up at voting centres to cast their votes.