Babafemi Ojudu, a former presidential aide and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), experienced significant delays when attempting to vote at his polling unit in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Saturday. Ojudu reported that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines failed to capture his details for nearly 30 minutes after accreditation began at 8 a.m.
Ojudu's account of the BVAS malfunction
In a Facebook post, Ojudu, a former senator, described the situation as unacceptable. “INEC, this is unacceptable. I am the first voter in my polling unit. Nearly 30 minutes after accreditation began, your equipment has still failed to capture my details,” he wrote. He expressed concern that if the first voter required 30 minutes, processing hundreds of voters would take hours. “I hope this is an isolated incident and not a statewide malfunction,” he added.
Ojudu, an ally of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, also uploaded a video addressing reporters after casting his vote. “The people are orderly, but the process is cumbersome. As I said, the people have come en masse to vote. They are peaceful, they are on queue, as expected, but the process is cumbersome,” he stated.
Details of the delay and INEC's response
Ojudu elaborated on the incident, noting that it took almost 30 minutes for the BVAS to capture his fingerprint and photograph. “If it takes 30 minutes to capture one person and then make him vote, I do wonder how many hours are going to be required to have 500 people voting,” he said. He called on INEC to address the malfunction or revert to manual accreditation. “If the machines are not working, let them do manual (accreditation),” he urged.
After drawing the attention of INEC officials to the problem, corrective measures were taken. Ojudu later confirmed in a comment that the situation improved. “The electoral officials contacted their office, and to their credit, corrective measures were taken without delay. The situation has since improved,” he wrote.
Impact on the Ekiti election process
The incident highlights ongoing concerns about the reliability of BVAS machines in Nigeria's elections. Ojudu's experience underscores the potential for delays that could disenfranchise voters if widespread malfunctions occur. The Ekiti State election, involving Governor Oyebanje and other candidates, is being closely watched for its use of technology to ensure credible polls.
