By Ada Wodu, Punch Newspaper
The Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Johnson Alalibo, on Friday, said the State had received the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for use in the 2023 general elections.
Alalibo also said other non-sensitive materials, like the voting cubicles, were expected to be delivered to the State.
The Head of Department, Voter Education, and Publicity in the State, Anthonia Nwobi, in a statement, said Alalibo spoke at the Calabar Municipality Area office after his four-day familiarization tour to the 18 INEC local government area offices in Cross River.
According to the statement, the REC said BVAS would be deployed for accreditation on election day in the 3,281 polling units in the state to eradicate rigging, and other electoral malfeasance and violence.
He explained that “once authentication of facials and fingerprints fail, the voter will not be allowed to vote”.
“This means that security of votes is assured with the double capturing of facials and fingerprints,” he was quoted as saying.
He expressed confidence that this modern technology recently introduced by INEC would ensure that votes count, adding that “other advantages of BVAS is that the polling units results will be snapped using BVAS at the end of the process and uploaded to INEC Result Viewing portal by the presiding officers before proceeding to the collation centers.”
On the ongoing renovations of INEC facilities in the state destroyed during the #EndSARS protests, Dr. Alalibo said, “The Commission has no doubt that all the ongoing renovations of INEC offices destroyed and dilapidated structures in the state will be completed before the 2023 general elections.”