The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday said the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) deployed for the mock accreditation exercise in Bayelsa State recorded a huge success.
The head of voter education and publicity in Bayelsa INEC office, Wilfred Ofogah, told Nigerian Tribune that the exercise that took place in 12 units across six Local Government Areas (Sagbama, Ekeremor, Yenagoa, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe and Ogbia) was conducted peacefully without hitches.
Ofogah said that the exercise was designed for INEC to test the BVAS ahead of deployment for the actual elections coming up in a few weeks.
“The mock accreditation is to let people know how BVAS works and for people to see how it works.
“In Bayelsa, we have not used BVAS before and this is an opportunity for people to see how it works and we hope that it will boost confidence in the system.
“It is also an opportunity for people to identify their new polling units so that when they come on election day, they know where to go.”
Also, a non-profit organization, Transformed Ladies of Bayelsa State, that monitored the exercise at polling unit 008 of Kpansia Sisibi Primary School in Yenagoa LGA, report that the turnout was poor as only 3 persons took part in the mock accreditation.
According to the chairperson of the organization, Odede Dinikpete, many members of the community claimed that even though the community radio announced the exercise, the current Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cashless policy deprived them of taking part in the exercise.
