Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concern over the alleged planned use of outdated Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, devices during Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
In a statement issued by his media office, Atiku said the challenges recorded during the August 1, 2026, mock accreditation exercise in Osun, coupled with comments made by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had exposed what he described as shortcomings in the election technology.
Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Bayode disclosed that BVAS, first introduced for elections in 2021, currently operates on Android Version 10.
Reacting to the disclosure, Atiku said, “What the INEC ICT Director did not say, however, is that Android Version 10 is outdated, as it reached end-of-life status in 2023, meaning that it is no longer receiving updates or security patches.”
According to him, operating a critical election platform on an outdated system posed significant cybersecurity and operational risks.
The former vice president questioned why INEC had not upgraded the BVAS software despite its budgetary allocations, particularly ahead of the 2027 general election and ongoing off-cycle polls such as the Osun governorship election, which could have served as a testing ground for updated technology.
He described INEC’s handling of the issue as suspicious, suggesting that it could undermine confidence in the electoral process.
“This vulnerability could allow criminal elements or hackers to bypass the BVAS application entirely, gain root access to the device’s file system, and potentially alter cached voter logs or polling unit result files before they are transmitted,” Atiku stated.
He further warned that because BVAS devices transmit polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, outdated software could increase exposure to cyber threats.
“Outdated cryptographic foundations elevate the risk of man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, where sophisticated actors could intercept, block, or manipulate data packets over the air,” he said.
Atiku also raised concerns about the biometric capabilities of the system, noting that reliance on an outdated framework could weaken fingerprint and facial recognition functions.
According to him, the situation could make the system more vulnerable to spoofing techniques, including fingerprint- and photo-based bypass attempts.
He added that unresolved software bugs and memory-related issues in older operating systems could trigger application failures during peak voting periods, leading to accreditation delays and technical disruptions.
The ADC presidential candidate backed calls by cybersecurity experts for a comprehensive review of the technology, stating: “Running critical national infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system creates a broad attack surface.
“To safeguard election integrity, it is vital to perform an independent, comprehensive code and hardware audit of the BVAS devices.”
