By Gabriel Ameh, The Sight News
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has commissioned a brand new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) storage facility in the Commission’s State office in Akure.
The commissioning of the facility took place on Monday 4th November, 2024 and it was the Chairman’s first official action upon arrival in the Ondo State capital for a series of weeklong activities ahead of the governorship election scheduled for 16th November.
He was accompanied by National Commissioners, the technical team and other senior officials of the Commission.
Before cutting the tape, Prof Yakubu recalled that four years ago, just before the 2020 Ondo State governorship election, the facility used for storing the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) at the State office caught fire and was extensively damaged. The fire incident forced the Commission to mobilise SCRs from its Oyo State office to conduct the Governorship election at the time.
He said the new facility, an improved version of the destroyed container, will house the BVAS machines in a conducive atmosphere.
Responding to questions at the Akure airport earlier, Prof Yakubu said the Commission had learnt lessons from the Edo governorship election and previous polls.
He identified two critical areas posing challenges to the Commission: logistics and result management.
He, however, pledged that voters in Ondo state would see fast improvements in the two processes on 16th November.
While in Ondo state, Prof Yakubu will visit some of the Commission’s local government area offices to assess their readiness, monitor the mock accreditation exercise slated for 6th November, meet with security agencies, transport unions and staff members. He will also meet with major stakeholders.
The INEC Chairman and his team will equally participate in the signing of the Peace Accord being organized by the National Peace Committee.
