The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has described the 2023 elections as the most transparent and credible ever held in the country.
The minister said this on Saturday, March 18 in his home town, Oro, near Ilorin Kwara while speaking with newsmen after casting his vote in the Governorship and State Assemblies elections.
Mohammed said the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, helped tackle the issues of multiple accreditations, voting and rigging.
“With what I have observed both in the February 25 and today’s elections, there has been a remarkable improvement in the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
This is to me probably one of the most transparent and credible elections in Nigeria. That is why I get worried about the red-erring by some people I can call sad losers in the aftermath of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“I am glad to say that some of the aggrieved parties have gone to court. That is the best thing in any election in the world. Let the court interpret what the law says.”
“Without any doubt, the introduction of BVAS has been a game changer in the sense that with BVAS, you are able to get the actual number of people who are accredited.
“Also with BVAS, it is now not possible for you to vote twice because your biometric and facial are captured.
“That explained why though INEC said there were 84 million voters in Nigeria, the last election showed that only about 24 million people cast their votes,’’ he said.
He said most of the issues being raised about the credibility of INEC in conducting the polls were to distract people.
“What we noticed is that some media houses had taken position for one candidate and this makes rubbish of most of the analysis we see on their platforms,’’ he said.