The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has described the 2023 polls as one of the most transparent and credible ever held in the country.
The minister said this on Saturday in his home town, Oro, near Ilorin Kwara while speaking with newsmen after casting his vote in the Governorship and State Assemblies elections.
The minister voted at about 9.45 a.m. at Polling Unit 006, Oro Ward 2 in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara. Justifying his assertion, the minister said the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was a game changer in tackling the issues of multiple accreditations, voting and rigging.
“With what I have observed both in the February 25 and today’s elections, there has been a remarkable improvement in the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Without any doubt, the introduction of BVAS has been a game changer in the sense that with BVAS, you are able to get the actual number of people who are accredited. Also with BVAS, it is now not possible for you to vote twice because your biometric and facial are captured.
That explained why though INEC said there were 84 million voters in Nigeria, the last election showed that only about 24 million people cast their votes,’’ he said.
The minister said, in spite of the obvious improvements in the electoral process, he was worried about the red herring that trailed the outcomes of the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assemblies elections. He said most of the issues being raised about the credibility of INEC in conducting the polls were distractive.
