Former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concerns about the security of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
His concerns followed reported glitches during the August 1 mock accreditation exercise in Osun State, as well as comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Director of ICT, Lawrence Bayode, that the BVAS currently runs on Android 10.
Atiku questioned the continued use of the operating system, noting that Android 10 reached its end-of-life in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates.
He also questioned why INEC had yet to upgrade the operating system ahead of the 2027 elections or test an updated version during recent off-cycle elections.
According to the former vice-president, relying on outdated software for electoral devices could create security vulnerabilities that may be exploited by cyber attackers. He warned that such vulnerabilities could potentially affect voter accreditation data and polling-unit results before they are transmitted.
Atiku also raised concerns about the transmission of election results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) through public telecommunications networks.
He argued that weaknesses in outdated security systems could increase the possibility of election data being intercepted or manipulated during transmission.
Beyond cybersecurity, Atiku said an obsolete operating system could also affect the performance of BVAS biometric functions, including fingerprint and facial recognition, potentially resulting in technical problems during accreditation.
He described the continued use of an end-of-life operating system on critical electoral infrastructure as a serious concern for the credibility of future elections.
The ADC presidential candidate subsequently urged INEC to carry out an independent and comprehensive assessment of the BVAS system ahead of the 2027 polls.
He called for the audit to cover the devices’ hardware and software, as well as their source code and broader security architecture.
Atiku said the exercise should be followed by necessary upgrades to ensure that the technology deployed for the 2027 elections is secure, reliable and capable of supporting credible electoral processes.