It additionally announced that nobody will be permitted to cast a ballot except  an individual  who had gone through an electronic validation of his character, utilizing its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this during the commission’s third quarterly meeting with political parties in Abuja yesterday, “I am aware that some of the cases are still in court and, therefore, controversial. I must say that some of the decided cases are making our work difficult and we have been crying out loud for a long time. Specifically, some pre-election litigation relating to the nomination of candidates for elections was not determined until after the elections.

It likewise bemoaned the increasing number of clashing court orders and decisions that were typically acquired by lawmakers trying to outsmart each other.

Prof. Yakubu also condemned the usual alternative of politicians obtaining clashing court orders which he said rubbishes the legal concept of “stare decisis” as what was supposedly settled in law had now become unsettled.

He said:   “I cannot conclude my remarks without touching on the issue of litigation, particularly the clashing orders emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdiction.

“Consequently, in some instances, political parties were declared winners without candidates to immediately receive the Certificates of Return on account of lengthy and disagreeable litigation or where courts rather than votes determine winners of elections.

“To address this concern, the commission attempted to introduce the facial biometric authentication during accreditation of the voters using the Z-Pad tablet to complement the fingerprint process through the card reader before Edo governorship election in September 2020.

‘’However, the commission was not entirely satisfied with the pilot held in the Nasarawa Central State constituency bye-election a month earlier in August 2020. We, therefore, suspended the idea to enable us to do some more work.

‘’Over the last one year, we reviewed the situation and we think we have found the appropriate technology to address it. The Z-pad was, therefore, only used to upload polling unit results to the IReV portal during elections.

“The functionality of the Z-pad has now been integrated into the IVED currently used for voter registration. On Election Day, the same device will be used for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, for fingerprint authentication during accreditation and where it fails for facial authentication.

‘’We believe that this multi-layer process will eliminate the possibility of voting by identity theft using another person’s PVC. Where the voter fails both the fingerprint and facial authentication, he/she will not be allowed to vote. In other words, no electronic authentication, no voting.

“We are convinced that the new machine is robust enough to further guarantee the credibility of voter authentication and transparent management of results during elections.

‘’Accordingly, the Commission intends to carry out a pilot exercise using the new device in Delta State during the Isoko South 1 State Assembly constituency bye-election holding this weekend (Saturday 11th September 2021). The BVAS will now perform the functions of both the SCR and Z-Pad in the bye-election. Thereafter, it will be deployed in the Anambra Governorship election in November.’’