A civil society organisation, the Coalition of Concerned Nigeria Citizens, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to explain the alleged widespread failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, during Saturday’s mock accreditation exercise ahead of the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election.
The coalition claimed that the exercise, organised to assess INEC’s readiness for the governorship poll, encountered significant technical challenges at selected polling units across the state, raising concerns over the commission’s preparedness.
In a statement issued by the its spokesperson, Comrade Raufu Sodiq, the organisation alleged that the exercise, scheduled to commence at 8:30 a.m., started late in some polling units.
According to the statement, “many BVAS devices reportedly stopped recognising fingerprints, facial features and Permanent Voter Cards less than 40 minutes after the exercise began, preventing the successful accreditation of eligible voters in the affected locations.”
The coalition described the alleged development as disturbing, noting that a mock accreditation exercise should ordinarily strengthen public confidence in the electoral process rather than generate fresh concerns about election preparations.
It stated that voter accreditation remains a critical stage of every election because it determines voter eligibility and safeguards the integrity of the electoral process.
The group questioned why the reported technical challenges allegedly occurred despite years of preparation and substantial public investment in electoral technology.
“We believe in strong democratic institutions and do not want to see INEC fail. However, public confidence must be built on competence, transparency and accountability. The people of Osun deserve an election where every eligible voter can cast their vote without avoidable technological failures,” the statement read.
The coalition urged the Osun Resident Electoral Commissioner and the national leadership of INEC to provide a comprehensive explanation of the alleged BVAS malfunction and disclose measures being taken to prevent a recurrence during the August 15 governorship election.
Among its demands, the organisation asked INEC to “clarify whether the reported glitches resulted from software, hardware or configuration problems and explain its contingency plans for the state’s 3,763 polling units.”
It also called on the electoral commission to replace any faulty BVAS machines and consider conducting another mock accreditation exercise before the governorship election to restore public confidence in the electoral process.
The group further appealed to the INEC Chairman to personally address Nigerians before the election by explaining the outcome of the mock accreditation exercise, outlining corrective measures and assuring voters that all identified technical challenges would be resolved.
Meanwhile, the INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan in a response to the glitch said it was attributed to the old Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs.
The INEC Chairman however said the issue has been resolved and the mock accreditation has resumed successfully.
NEC organised the mock accreditation exercise to test the functionality of the BVAS and other electoral processes ahead of the August 15 governorship election in Osun State.
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