Enugu  LG Polls: ENSIEC Says it ‘ll not deploy BVAs

By COSMAS Chukwu

To clear the air on the anxiety over the upcoming LG polls, the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) says it has no plans to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditatioitn System (BVAS) in the Feb. 23, 2022 local government election in the state.

A Commissioner in ENSIEC, Mr Solomon Udeh disclosed this on Tuesday in Enugu during a Media Roundtable Ahead of the 2022 Enugu State Local Government Elections.

Udeh said that the non-deployment of the device was down to the issues of logistics and finance.

According to him, one of the logistics of election was finance and the usage of the device is not captured in the commission’s budget.

“One of the logistics of election is finance and it has not been captured in our budget,” he said.

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 All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, Udeh said that the electoral umpire was waiting for the resolution of the crisis in the party.

He said that ENSIEC was 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 said.

The commissioner, however, said that the electoral umpire had between Feb. 2 and Feb. 10, 2022 to conclude the compilation of names and data of candidates in the election.

Udeh said that ENSIEC would ensure that result sheets were 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 media roundtable was organised by the European Centre for Electoral Support.

The training is organised 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.