Civil society group Yiaga Africa has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a full technical audit of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System following malfunctions recorded during the Osun State governorship election.

The organisation said the review should identify the causes of the failures and guide improvements before the 2027 general elections.

Yiaga Africa deployed 300 observers across the state’s 30 local government areas. Its findings, based on reports from 289 polling units, showed that BVAS was deployed to all observed units and worked properly in 80 per cent of them. Technical problems were recorded in the remaining 20 per cent, though the devices were later fixed.

The group noted that the scale of the problems did not undermine the overall election. However, it observed that some elderly voters were affected by biometric and facial recognition failures. In 11 per cent of polling units, voters whose permanent voter cards had been verified were still denied accreditation because the machine could not authenticate their fingerprints or faces.

Yiaga Africa also assessed the use of downloadable PVCs. These were presented in 23 per cent of sampled units, with most voters successfully accredited, though some were denied in a smaller number of cases.

The organisation praised INEC for largely deploying personnel and materials on time despite last-minute changes to ballot papers.

The group raised concerns about delays on the INEC Result Viewing portal and called for clearer explanations when uploads are interrupted. It urged the commission to publish the causes of the biometric failures, strengthen technical support, and issue clear guidelines on the use of downloadable PVCs ahead of future elections.

Photo credit: Punch Newspaper