Just In: BVAS rejects Edeoga as PVC indicates female gender, accuses INEC of manipulation

By Dubem Onyeabor

Mixed reactions at Eha-Amufu ward 3, polling unit 006 as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine denies Edeoga from voting due to a difference in his voter’s card which has the face of the Labour Party guber candidate but shows a female status.

This was even as Edeoga accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of deliberately manipulating his ward’s machine against him in order to disenfranchise him from voting.

The INEC ad-hoc officials on duty explained that due to the sophistication of the BVAS machine, Edeoga could not be accredited to vote until a directive is gotten from the INEC headquarters.

From the observation, Edeoga has been the only person being rejected by the BVAS machine as other voters are still being accredited successfully.

Reacting to the incident, the Labour Party guber candidate said he requested a new PVC sometime in October 2022 because he noticed that the voter’s card he has been using has worn out. He said that because of his busy schedule, he has not thoroughly examined the card to know if there was any error.

He demanded to take pictures with the ballot papers but was turned down by the INEC Presiding Officers on duty who told him that electoral materials are being given to only the accredited voters, and not people who have not been accredited successfully by the BVAS machine. The INEC ad-hoc staff further advised that he should be back at 12.30 in order to get feedback from the appropriate quarters regarding his rejection.

Angry Edeoga could be heard shouting at the presiding officer and lampooning INEC for lack of preparation. He accused some powerful politicians of orchestrating his disqualification, calling members of his media team to go to the social media and blackmail the commission.

”I registered as a male but how it later turned to female is what I can’t tell. My only mistake was that I should have checked the details very well when I got it, at least I would have made a complaint in time for them to do something. Just like you heard the INEC ad-hoc official, there is a collusion and compromise between them and some opposition parties. We will resist it even with any means,” he noted.

It is not clear whether the issue has been rectified as at the time of filling this report.