EKWE JONAL

Since the return of democracy in 1999, Nigerians have been yearning for free, fair, transparent and credible election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has adopted one reform/innovation or the other to improve the process and outcome of elections in Nigeria. Amongst these innovations is the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) in 2021. The study therefore, will assess the BVAs and management of credible elections in the 2023 General elections in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive research design. Data for the study were collected using the secondary instruments of datacollection. The researcher adopted the cybernetic communication theory as its theoretical framework for analysis. The major findings of the study are that despite the huge resources committed to acquiring the device (BVAs), it did not guarantee the credibility of the 2023 General Election especially, since not all the results were electronically transmitted in real time. The device did not also prevent electoral fraud like mutilation of results, vote buying, uploading of blurred result sheets, amongst others in certain areas. The study therefore, recommends amongst others, that the electoral law be further reviewed to specify electronic transmission of election results as the only recognized means of collating electoral results, declaration of blurred and mutilated uploaded results as void, and an emphasis shift from mere technological innovations with the BVAs to the human infrastructure who operate/handle these devices if the most populous country in Africa will achieve her dream of a peaceful, transparent and credible election in the nearest future.

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