Multiple posts making the rounds online claim that some Bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines were missing in Oporoza community in Warri South West Local Government Area.
The tweets claimed 10 BVAS were missing out of the supposed 23 that were made available for the 23 polling units in the community.
Verification
CDD Election War Room spoke to officials at the INEC head office in Asaba, who explained that some BVAS machines were not at Oporoza community at the start of the exercise.
The official said he was following the incident from the beginning, and that there were five BVAS machines sent to Oporoza which were not originally reconfigured.
He explained that upon realisation, the Registration Area Centre (RAC) technical support staff took them away without informing the Electoral Officer (EO) to reconfigure.
The EO on discovering that five machines were not there looked for the RAC Tech and was told he went to reconfigure the five machines. “The EO immediately went in search of the RAC Tech and both of them returned back to Oporoza,” the official said.
Even after reconfiguration and return to Oporoza, the voters rejected the said BVAS machines.
It took the intervention of critical stakeholders to get voters to accept the BVAS machines after their readings showed zero. Voting has since commenced in the entire LGA.
Verdict
According to INEC officials, the claim that 10 BVAS machines were stolen from Oporoza community is false. The machines were taken for reconfiguration, without the express permission of the electoral officer.
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