Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has raised concerns over the alleged use of outdated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices in Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
Atiku’s concerns followed the August 1 mock accreditation exercise in the state and comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, who disclosed that the BVAS devices currently operate on Android 10.
The former vice president argued that Android 10 had reached its end-of-life stage in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates, potentially exposing the devices to cybersecurity and operational risks.
According to Atiku, INEC should have upgraded the software, particularly with the 2027 general election approaching and the Osun poll providing an opportunity to test improved electoral technology.
He warned that vulnerabilities in outdated software could potentially expose election data to cyberattacks, including unauthorised access, manipulation of stored voter information and interference with the transmission of polling-unit results.
Atiku also expressed concern about the biometric functions of the devices, arguing that outdated software could affect fingerprint and facial recognition systems and potentially increase the risk of spoofing attempts.
He further warned that software bugs and memory limitations could cause application failures during periods of heavy use, potentially resulting in accreditation delays and technical difficulties on election day.
The ADC candidate therefore backed calls for an independent audit of the BVAS hardware and software before the election.
He said maintaining critical electoral infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system could create a broad cybersecurity risk and urged INEC to conduct a comprehensive review to strengthen confidence in the electoral process.
The Osun governorship election is scheduled for August 15, 2026.
