Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over the security of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that the technology could pose cybersecurity and operational risks ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, raised the concerns following reported challenges during INEC’s August 1 mock accreditation exercise in Osun State.
According to a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja on Tuesday, Atiku cited comments attributed to INEC Director of ICT, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, that BVAS devices currently run on Android 10.
He argued that using an aging operating system for critical election technology could expose the system to security vulnerabilities, including unauthorized access and possible interference with accreditation and result data.
Atiku also expressed concern over the transmission of polling unit results through telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, as well as the reliability of BVAS fingerprint and facial-recognition functions.
He questioned why INEC had not upgraded the system ahead of the 2027 elections and called for an independent, comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software.
INEC had earlier said its August 1 mock accreditation exercise in selected polling units across 12 local government areas of Osun was designed to test BVAS functionality under conditions similar to Election Day.
The commission has also said it is technically and operationally prepared for the Osun governorship election scheduled for August 15, 2026.
Atiku said upgrading and independently auditing the system would help strengthen public confidence in the credibility and security of Nigeria’s electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.
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