Ameedah Abdfatah
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2027 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has raised fresh concerns over the technology underpinning Nigeria’s electoral accreditation process, alleging that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System is operating on an outdated Android operating system.
Atiku, a former Vice-President stated this in a statement signed by his Media Office in Abuja on August 11, 2026.,
He warned that the alleged use of Android 10 on the BVAS could expose the electoral system to cybersecurity and operational vulnerabilities ahead of the 2027 elections.
Atiku consequently called for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software, arguing that the integrity of the technology should not be left to assumptions as the country approaches another crucial election cycle.
The former Vice-President’s concerns followed reported challenges during the Independent National Electoral Commission’s mock accreditation exercise in Osun State on August 1, 2026, as well as comments attributed to the commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode.
Bayode reportedly said during a television interview on Monday that the BVAS, introduced into Nigeria’s electoral process in 2021, currently operates on Android version 10.
In a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja on Tuesday, Atiku said Android 10 reached end-of-life status in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates.
He questioned why INEC had not upgraded the operating system ahead of the 2027 elections, particularly given the commission’s budget and the opportunity presented by forthcoming off-cycle elections to test upgraded electoral technology.
Atiku described INEC’s handling of the alleged BVAS software limitation as “suspicious,” warning that unresolved technology vulnerabilities could undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
He said an operating system that no longer receives regular security patches could potentially increase the exposure of election devices to cyber threats.
According to him, a compromised device could create risks around the storage and transmission of voter accreditation information and polling-unit results.
Atiku also raised concerns over the transmission of polling-unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
He argued that weaknesses in outdated security and cryptographic components could potentially expose data transmitted between polling units and the result-viewing platform to attempts at interception, disruption or manipulation.
The ADC presidential candidate further drew attention to the biometric component of the BVAS, which uses fingerprint and facial recognition technologies to authenticate voters.
He argued that the reliability of the biometric verification process should be subjected to rigorous technical assessment, particularly as the country prepares for an election expected to involve millions of voters and thousands of polling units.
Atiku also warned that legacy software could suffer performance problems or application crashes under heavy usage, potentially slowing voter accreditation and creating long queues at polling units.
He said such failures could disproportionately affect voters in locations where telecommunications networks, electricity supply and other supporting infrastructure are already unreliable.
The former Vice-President therefore urged INEC to conduct an independent technical audit covering the BVAS hardware, operating system, applications, biometric functions, cybersecurity architecture and data-transmission processes.
He also urged the commission to use the forthcoming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, as an opportunity to test any upgraded version of the technology before deploying it nationally in 2027.
Atiku’s intervention has added a new dimension to the growing debate over the preparedness of Nigeria’s electoral infrastructure for the 2027 elections.
The BVAS was introduced as part of efforts to strengthen voter accreditation and reduce electoral fraud by combining biometric verification with electronic result-management processes.
However, concerns over the reliability, security and performance of election technology have persisted, making independent verification of the system increasingly important ahead of the next general election.
For Atiku, the issue goes beyond whether BVAS can successfully accredit voters on election day. He argued that the country must also be satisfied that the devices are secure throughout the entire chain—from voter authentication and result recording to data transmission and public viewing.
He said Nigeria should not wait for a major election-day failure or cybersecurity incident before addressing vulnerabilities that can be identified and fixed ahead of time.
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