Sowore says BVAS will not tackle electoral malpractice

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has said the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the 2023 general elections will not address Nigeria’s perennial problem of election rigging.

He also said the current insecurity in the country poses a great threat to free and fair elections next year as all the regions in the country have peculiar security challenges.

Sowore stated this on Friday while speaking in an interview with Politics Hub, a Vanguard Online TV’s political show.

The AAC presidential candidate, during the interview, explained to the anchor of the TV show, Damilola Ogunsakin that the Osun State governorship election in June was ravaged by over-voting despite the usage of BVAS.

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He said, “No, I do not expect a free and fair election. It’s not the equipment that organises free and fair elections, it’s the personnel that are involved in organising elections. In the case of 2023, it (the fault) started by putting in place an INEC leadership, at the federal level, federal commissioners of people who are card-carrying members of the ruling party.”

“As a matter of fact, there was a time the President nominated his spokesperson, Lauretta Onochie to be on that board until there was some sort of outcry, and she was dropped. But that does not stop the ruling party from still putting their people there,” Sowore added.

Speaking about the insecurity as a challenge to free and fair elections, he said, “Secondly, it is to think about the security situation of Nigeria and how many state actors are in control of our territories. In the case of this particular period, you have the North-East still terribly in control of Boko Haram. You now have added the North-West controlled by bandits.

“As a matter of fact, there was a time the President nominated his spokesperson, Lauretta Onochie to be on that board until there was some sort of outcry, and she was dropped. But that does not stop the ruling party from still putting their people there,” Sowore added.