The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Cross River, Dr Johnson Alalibo, has confirmed the receipt of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) gadgets to be used for the 2023 general elections in the state.
Alalibo announced this at the end of his tour of offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, on Friday, in Calabar.
He also said that voting cubicles and other non-sensitive materials were expected to be delivered in the next few days.
The REC, who warned politicians that days of rigging and ballot box snatching were over, said the BVAS would be deployed across the 3281 polling units in the state.
He counselled staff of the commission to be at their best before and during and after the poll, adding that INEC was poised to conduct the most credible, fair and inclusive elections in the history of the country.
“BVAS will be deployed for accreditation on election day in the 3281 polling units in the State to eradicate rigging, and other electoral malfeasance and violence.
“Once authentication of facials and fingerprints fails, voters will not be allowed to vote.
“This means that the security of votes is assured with the double capturing of facials and fingerprints.
“Introduction of BVAS by the commission will ensure that votes will count,” Alalibo said.
Describing other advantages of BVAS, the REC said that the polling units’ results can be snapped using BVAS at the end of the process and uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV).
Alalibo noted that this can be done by the Presiding Officers before proceeding to the Collation centres.
“I assure you that the uploaded results can be viewed by all globally so far as you create an account on IReV portal to view the results,” he stated.
He states that the commission has started the renovation of the destroyed INEC facilities destroyed in Cross River during the EndSars Protest.
“These facilities will be completed and put to use before the 2023 general elections,” he said.
He advised staff to reciprocate and complement the gestures of the commission to staff including capacity building by remaining loyal and devoid of partisan politics.
