November Elections: INEC Speaks On Reconfiguring BVAS Machines Inside Kogi Govt House

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied reports suggesting the electoral body is reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to be used for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State inside the state government house.

INEC said the report which is being propagated by the Kogi State chapter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the effect that three electoral officials were in the state Government House, reconfiguring BVAS to favour a particular candidate is fake.

The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi in a statement on Saturday in Abuja to that effect, therefore called on members of the public to disregard the reports as it is fake news.

According to Oyekanmi, the three persons mentioned in the report by SDP are not even in Kogi State at the moment, adding that even one of them is no longer a staff of the commission.

He said; “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a statement signed by ID Ijele, Director of New Media of the SDP Governorship campaign team in Kogi State.

“The statement alleged that three staff of INEC are right now maliciously reconfiguring the BVAS machines in the Government House, Lokoja, with the intention of manipulating the forthcoming Governorship election in a part of the State in favour of a candidate.

“The story is untrue. The three persons mentioned are not associated with the configuration of the BVAS machines and not even in Kogi State at the moment. Mr. Nicholas Ocholi is on his duty post in our Ondo State office in Akure. Ibrahim Egbunu is attending to a very close family member hospitalized in Abuja. Mohammed Adara retired last year and is no longer a staff of the Commission.

“The configuration of BVAS is done simultaneously and exclusively in our offices in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States professionally and strictly handled by teams deployed from the national HQ, Abuja.

“The public is advised to disregard the story as fake news. At the same time, the Commission appeals to political parties to desist from engaging in malicious rumour mongering of this nature”.