VOTERS in Rivers are getting agitated by the delay caused by the malfunctioning of tge Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Despite the delay caused by the late arrival of INEC officials, the malfunctioning device has further slowed the voting process.

It was observed that in some cases, BVAS did not provide accurate information about voters and in others, the machine went off for a significant period.

It also could not authenticate the facial features and fingerprints of voters. This resulted in the temporary suspension of the voting process.

For instance, in wards 15 and 16, Obio/Akpor LGA, many voters present were unable to get accredited by the BVAS machine. This malfunction caused chaos in the polling unit. 

Also, in Unit 3, Okolile community, it was observed that many voters are kept waiting because BVAS failed to function. The glitch started at 12:10 p.m. 

Voters in Ward 4, Khana Local Government Area, were also delayed due to the machine malfunction.

The ICIR reported how the BVAS machine failed to accredit Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike and his wife, Justice Suzzette Eberechi, upon arrival at their polling unit.

Wike said, “I’m highly disappointed,” before leaving his polling unit, 7A, Ward 9 in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

There are also cases of inadequate machines in many polling units.

Some of the INEC officials present are inefficient as they have little or no knowledge of how to handle the BVAS machines.

It was observed that some electoral officials at Polling Unit 11, Khana LGA, could not operate the BVAS machine.