December 17, (THEWILL) – President of the Centre For Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI), Mr Olufemi Aduwo, has stated that independent findings carried out by his organisation proved that the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, is not opposed to the use of the innovative Bimodial Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as being insinuated in some quarters.
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had alleged that there was a secret court action to stop the use of BVAS in the 2023 general elections.
The coalition, addressing a press conference in Abuja, through its spokesman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, claimed it was in possession of evidence to that effect.
It, however, did not disclose the plaintiff to the suit it claimed had been filed in a court in the South East region of the country.
Aduwo, in a statement at the weekend, however, frowned at the claims of the CUPP and defended that the Imo State Governor couldn’t have been the one fingered by the CUPP.
He said that having been a beneficiary of the Nigerian legal system, Uzodinma is at the forefront of ensuring democratic values are entrenched and as such, could never be averse to the use of BVAS in the 2023 election nor can he be making surreptitious moves to remove the INEC Chairman.
The statement reads in parts: “Miffed by the alarm by the CUPP that there is an ongoing move to use the court in Owerri, Imo State, to stop the use of BVAS in the 2023 elections and a plot to ensure the sack of the INEC Chairman, we at CCDI proceeded with an intelligent investigation to ascertain the veracity of the claim and puncture the lie that the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, was responsible for the ulterior action.
“Our findings, however, exonerated the Governor but however, established that he is working towards strengthening the electoral process in the state by fostering a level playing ground for all parties in the state to participate in the general election.
“Having been a beneficiary of the judicial legal system, it is preposterous for some politicians to have imagined that the alleged court process must have been initiated by the Imo State Governor. This is a baseless accusation and we urge the public to ignore it as a figment of the people’s imaginations, Aduwo stated.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters – using the voters’ fingerprints – in order to prove that they are eligible to vote at a particular polling unit.
BVAS usage entails either scanning the barcode/QR code on the PVC/Voter’s register or entering the last six digits of the Voter Identity Number or typing in the last name of the voter by the Assistant Presiding Officer (APO 1) to verify and authenticate the voter.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
