Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns about the operating system used on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that the technology could face cybersecurity and operational problems ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), expressed the concern after problems were reportedly recorded during the Osun State mock accreditation exercise held on August 1, 2026.
His media office made the position known in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday and signed by the Atiku Media Office.
The former vice president's concerns followed comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, who disclosed during a television interview that the BVAS devices currently operate on Android 10.
The BVAS was introduced into Nigeria's electoral process in 2021 and has since been used for voter accreditation through biometric verification.
Atiku's team argued that Android 10 had reached the end of its official support period in 2023, meaning that the system no longer receives regular security updates and patches.
According to the former vice president, using an outdated operating system for an important electoral platform could leave the devices open to security threats and technical failures.
He questioned why INEC had not upgraded the BVAS software ahead of the 2027 elections, especially with several off-cycle elections available to test improved versions of the technology.
Atiku also questioned the decision not to use the forthcoming Osun governorship election as an opportunity to assess a more updated BVAS system before the general elections.
He raised concerns that weaknesses in an old operating system could be exploited to gain unauthorised access to election devices or interfere with voter accreditation and polling unit data.
The ADC presidential candidate also drew attention to the electronic transmission of polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
He warned that outdated security and encryption components could create room for attempts to interfere with information moving from polling units to the result-viewing platform.
Atiku further raised questions about the biometric functions of BVAS, which relies on fingerprints and facial recognition to verify voters. He said weaknesses in older software could affect the accuracy and reliability of the verification process.
He also pointed to the possibility of software crashes when the devices are subjected to heavy use during elections. Such failures, he said, could slow down voter accreditation and create difficulties at polling units.
Atiku called for an independent and detailed audit of the BVAS hardware and software before the 2027 elections.
He maintained that electoral technology should be properly tested, secured and updated because any weakness in the system could affect public confidence in the election process.
The former vice president said INEC should address the concerns early and ensure that the technology deployed for the 2027 elections meets current security and operational standards.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of News PLATFORM or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!