Nigeria has recorded doctors votes since 1999, now checked by BVAS, he adds
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria has been recording exaggerated votes since 1999 when the country returned to democracy, human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN has reiterated.
He commended on Channels Television, the use by the Independent National Electoral Commission of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that reads Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticates voters, saying the technology has exposed the fraud in the electoral process.
There are 93,469,008 registered voters in Nigeria but only 87,209,007 or 93.3 per cent collected their PVCs to vote in the 2023 election, according to the INEC.
However, only 25,286,616 or 28.63 per cent of the eligible voters participated in the February 25 presidential election, election data shows.
Falana said the media reported a large turnout in the presidential election but only 25 million voters voted, whereas more people participated in the years of high voter apathy.
“In elections in Nigeria, since 1999, we have had over-bloated figures. And since 1999, what you call voter apathy might not capture the problem. We may now begin to interrogate the figures that are recorded.”
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Impact of BVAS
“A friend was telling me that whereas in his own area in one of the states up to 2019, the least votes in some riverine areas would be in the neighborhood of at least 130,000 but this time around, it’s barely 5,000 because you have to be captured by the BVAS machine before you can vote,” Falana said, per Daily Trust.
“In a state like Lagos, 2.6 million collected their PVCs but at the end of the day, the presidential election attracted only 1.2 million votes.
“So, those figures that we recorded in the past from the majority of the states have been taken away by the BVAS machine. That is why the numbers have gone down.”
Falana condemned the “tribunalisation” of Nigeria’s democracy, stressing almost all elections end up at the tribunal.
In his view, this puts so much pressure on the judiciary, lamenting all other important cases are abandoned to treat election-related cases.
Falana advocated for the return of retired judges to take over election matters and also expressed support for televised tribunal proceedings to ensure transparency.
