A civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa on Sunday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a comprehensive technical audit of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) following malfunctions recorded during the Osun state governorship election.
The organisation said the audit should identify the causes of the technical failures and inform improvements in the testing, maintenance and technical support of the devices ahead of the 2027 general election.
In its statement on the process and results of the election released on Sunday, Yiaga Africa said it deployed 300 observers and 32 mobile observers across the state’s 30 local government areas under its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology.
The findings were based on reports from 289 of the 300 sampled polling units, representing 96 percent of the sample.
According to the organisation, BVAS was deployed to all the polling units observed and functioned properly in 80 percent of them. However, technical problems were recorded in the remaining 20 percent.
“However, in 20% of polling units, the BVAS malfunctioned, and it was fixed,” the organisation said.
Yiaga Africa said the problems did not occur on a scale capable of undermining the election, despite concerns raised after the mock accreditation exercise. It, however, noted that elderly voters were among those affected by biometric and facial recognition failures.
The organisation said 11 percent of polling units recorded cases where voters whose permanent voter cards (PVCs) had been successfully verified were denied accreditation because the BVAS could not authenticate their fingerprints or facial biometrics.
Yiaga Africa also assessed the use of downloadable PVCs, introduced under the Electoral Act 2026. It said voters presented the digital copies in 23 percent of the sampled polling units, with most successfully accredited.
However, some voters using downloadable PVCs were denied accreditation in seven percent of polling units where the digital cards were presented.
The organisation said INEC largely succeeded in deploying personnel and election materials on time despite the last-minute court-ordered inclusion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which required the commission to reprint ballot papers and result sheets.
The civic tech organisation said 48 percent of the observed polling units had commenced accreditation and voting by 8:30am, rising to 96 percent by 9:30am.
Yiaga Africa also raised concerns over the performance of the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, saying uploads stalled between 8:48pm and 10pm at 3,292 polling-unit results, leaving 471 outstanding before transmission resumed at about 11:50pm.
“This prolonged interruption requires a clear explanation from INEC. Sustaining public confidence in IReV requires not only timely and complete uploads but also proactive disclosure whenever delays occur,” Yiaga Africa said.
The organisation said electronic transmission and publication of polling-unit results remained an important safeguard for transparency, while its observers found that presiding officers transmitted Form EC8A through BVAS in 85 percent of sampled polling units.
Yiaga Africa said its findings demonstrated that INEC could achieve a high operational standard when an election was adequately resourced and closely monitored.
It urged the commission to use the lessons from the Osun election to establish stronger operational standards ahead of 2027, including publishing the causes of biometric authentication failures and the measures being taken to prevent their recurrence.
The organisation also called on INEC to issue uniform and binding guidelines to presiding officers on the acceptance and use of downloadable PVCs for voter accreditation.
“INEC should publish the causes of the biometric authentication failures recorded during accreditation, together with the remedial measures to be applied in 2027,” Yiaga Africa added.
“INEC should issue binding, uniform guidance to presiding officers on the acceptance of downloadable PVCs and usage for voter accreditation.”