Atiku slams INEC over outdated BVAS software, calls for audit ahead of 2027 polls

By Precious Mark

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has raised alarm over severe cyber and operational risks facing the 2027 general elections due to the use of outdated operating software on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja, the former Vice President criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission for failing to update the software running the accreditation hardware despite receiving substantial budgetary allocations.

Atiku called for an immediate independent code and hardware audit of all BVAS devices, pointing out that operating critical electoral infrastructure on an end of life system creates major security vulnerabilities.

“This vulnerability could allow criminal elements or hackers to bypass the BVAS application entirely, gain root access to the device file system, and potentially alter cached voter logs or polling unit result files before they are transmitted,” Atiku stated.

The concerns follow disclosures by the commission’s Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode, who revealed during a television appearance that the BVAS devices introduced in 2021 currently run on Android version 10. The operating system reached end of life status in 2023, meaning it no longer receives security patches or updates.

Atiku noted that transmitting polling unit results over public telecommunication networks to the INEC Result Viewing portal using legacy cryptographic frameworks exposes the system to interception.

“Since BVAS machines must necessarily transmit polling unit results over weak public telecommunication networks to the IReV portal, outdated cryptographic foundations elevate the risk of Man in the Middle attacks, where sophisticated actors could intercept, block, or manipulate data packets over the air,” he added.

He further cautioned that legacy system bugs risk causing application crashes during peak voting hours, leading to accreditation delays as witnessed during the Osun State mock accreditation exercise on August 1.

To safeguard electoral integrity, the former Vice President urged the commission to comprehensively audit the devices before upcoming off season elections and the 2027 general elections.