NBA Sends Message To INEC Ahead Of Governorship Elections

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and other election technology are fixed and improved before the governorship polls.

Naija News reports that the National Publicity Secretary of the NBA, Akorede Habeeb-Lawal, made this known in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

The NBA also asked the electoral umpire to fix all the irregularities identified during the February 25 presidential election before the March 11 governorship elections.

The association also advised INEC to address major challenges such as the late arrival of its officials and ballot materials at the polling stations.

It also called on the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to exclude all staff of the electoral commission who were involved in misconduct during the presidential poll from participating in Saturday’s polls.

It reads: “The NBA urges INEC to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the BVAS machines and other election technology are fixed and improved.

“All INEC staff, including collation and returning officers, with proven cases of misconduct in the Feb. 25 elections should be excluded from the March 11 elections.

“The NBA asked INEC to address major challenges such as late arrival of INEC officials and ballot materials at the polling stations, and limited or non-transmission of the results from the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV)”.

“The NBA called on the inspector-general of police (IGP) to make sure that police officers are deployed on time before the commencement of voting.

“It also advised political parties to inform their supporters and members of the need to refrain from any behaviour that might violate the Election Act.”

Recall that the NBA had said commended INEC for the conduct of the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections.

In an interview with Channels Television on Saturday, NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau said the electoral body performed well in the conduct of the exercise despite the challenges faced.