Atiku raises security concerns over BVAS ahead of 2027

Harry Archie August 11, 2026

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns about the use of an outdated operating system on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that it could expose the electoral system to security and technical problems ahead of the 2027 elections.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the comments in a statement issued by his media office in Abuja on Tuesday.

He was reacting to reports of problems during the mock accreditation exercise held in Osun State on August 1, as well as comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode.

Bayode reportedly said on Arise TV on Monday that the BVAS, which was introduced into Nigeria’s electoral process in 2021, currently runs on Android 10.

Atiku said Android 10 reached its end-of-life status in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates and patches.

He warned that using an outdated operating system for an important electoral system such as BVAS could expose it to cyberattacks and other technical problems.

Atiku questioned why INEC had not upgraded the BVAS software ahead of the 2027 elections, despite what he described as the commission’s substantial budget.

He also suggested that the coming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, could be used to test an updated version of the system.

The former vice president described INEC’s handling of the issue as “suspicious”, saying it could affect the credibility of future elections.

According to him, weaknesses in an outdated operating system could be exploited by cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to BVAS devices and interfere with voter accreditation or polling unit results before they are transmitted.

He also raised concerns about the transmission of polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to INEC’s Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

Atiku said outdated security and encryption systems could increase the risk of attempts to intercept, block or manipulate data sent from polling units to the result-viewing platform.

He further expressed concern about BVAS’ biometric functions, which use fingerprints and facial recognition to verify voters.

He said an outdated biometric system could affect the accuracy and reliability of voter verification and make it easier to bypass the system’s security measures.

Atiku also warned that software problems in older systems could cause BVAS devices to crash, especially when many voters are being accredited at the same time, leading to delays.

He supported calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software before the 2027 elections.

Atiku said using an end-of-life operating system for critical national infrastructure could increase the system’s exposure to cyber threats and create avoidable risks for the electoral process.

The statement was signed by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja on August 11, 2026.