A former Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa-Ibom State of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mike Igini, said the newly introduced Bimodal Voters Accreditation System would curtail rigging and other forms of electoral manipulations commonly perpetrated by politicians.
The former REC made this known during the 2023 election townhall organised by the Abuja leadership centre, a centre of excellence in public governance set up by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund at the University of Abuja.
According to a statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday, the town hall was organised to deepen political participation of young Nigerians by providing them with the necessary trainings required for leadership.
Speaking at the event, Igini said, “There will be a major paradigm shift in the 2023 polls as voters now have the ultimate power to determine winners of election.
“INEC has designed a system that has brought power to the people, that is why many politicians are now afraid.
“The introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in the conduct of elections will curtail rigging and other form of voting manipulations by politicians .
Polling unit, ward and local government collation centres are now mere ceremonial collation centres as results entered into the BVAS are automatically loaded into the cloud system.
“The amended Electoral Act proscribes severe punishment- a prison term of not less than one year or N10 million fine for electoral official that attempts to change election results.”
Also quoted in the statement, the vice-chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Abdulrasheed Na’allah said, “This Centre of Excellence on Public Governance and Leadership has given us the opportunity to help develop leadership for this nation.
”We are now committed totally as a university to change the cause for this nation. You know, when people say their problem is not money but how to spend it, we must teach Nigeria how to spend money, how to make decisions, how to select leaders who are ready”.
Speaking further, the don cited example of Singapore that got it right on leadership recruitment system which catapulted it from a third world country to a first world nation within a short period of time.
