Osun Election: Atiku Raises Concern Over Alleged Use of Outdated BVAS

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has raised concerns over the alleged planned use of outdated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices during Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.

In a statement issued by his media office, Atiku said problems recorded during the August 1, 2026 mock accreditation exercise, alongside comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had raised questions about the reliability of the election technology.

Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Bayode disclosed that the BVAS, introduced for elections in 2021, currently operates on Android Version 10.

Atiku argued that Android Version 10 had reached end-of-life status in 2023 and was therefore no longer receiving regular updates and security patches.

He said using an outdated operating system for a critical electoral platform could create cybersecurity and operational risks.

The former vice-president questioned why INEC had not upgraded the BVAS software despite budgetary allocations, particularly ahead of the 2027 general election.

He also suggested that the Osun governorship election could have provided an opportunity to test upgraded electoral technology.

Atiku warned that vulnerabilities in outdated software could potentially expose BVAS devices to cyberattacks, including attempts to access stored voter accreditation data or polling unit result files.

He also raised concerns over the transmission of polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing portal, arguing that outdated software could increase exposure to interception or manipulation.

The ADC candidate further claimed that older software frameworks could affect biometric functions, potentially weakening fingerprint and facial recognition systems and increasing the risk of spoofing attempts.

He also warned that unresolved software bugs and memory limitations could result in application crashes, accreditation delays and technical disruptions during periods of heavy usage.

Atiku backed calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent technical assessment of the BVAS devices.

“Running critical national infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system creates a broad attack surface,” he said.

He urged INEC to conduct a comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software to strengthen confidence in the electoral process.