The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC), has clarified it has no plans to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the February 23, 2022, local government election in the state.
A Commissioner in ENSIEC, Solomon Udeh, made the clarification Tuesday in Enugu, the State’s capital during a Media Roundtable Ahead of the 2022 Enugu State Local Government Elections.
Udeh said that the non-deployment of the device was caused by issues of logistics and finance.
He added that one of the logistics of election is finance and the usage of the device is not captured in the commission’s budget.
The commissioner, however, assured the stakeholders that the usage of BVAS would be deployed in subsequent local government elections in the state.
On the participation of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, Udeh said that the electoral umpire is waiting for the resolution of the crisis in the party.
He indicated that ENSIEC is reaching out to the three different factions of the party in the state and hoped that they would resolve their crisis within a reasonable time.
“We are handling their files and if they resolve within themselves, we will know what to do.
“We are in constant communication with the national leadership of the APC. If we get their response, we will get the appropriate faction informed,” he promised.
The commissioner, however, said that the electoral umpire had between February 2 and 10, 2022 to conclude the compilation of names and data of candidates in the election.
Udeh said that ENSIEC would ensure that result sheets are made available in all the polling units across the state during the election.
“There will be result sheets in all polling units but they might not go out at the same time with the sensitive materials,” Udeh said.
The the media roundtable was organized by the European Centre for Electoral Support.
The training is organized in collaboration with European Union – Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) partners, the Albino Foundation and the Nigerian Women Trust Fund.
Participants at the round table were 40 journalists drawn from the electronic, print and social media in the state.
NAN