Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over the operating system reportedly powering the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku warned that the continued use of an outdated operating system could expose Nigeria’s electoral technology to cybersecurity and operational risks. His concerns followed reported difficulties during the August 1, 2026, Osun State mock accreditation exercise and comments attributed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode.
According to Atiku’s Media Office, Bayode disclosed during an Arise TV programme that the BVAS, introduced into Nigeria’s electoral system in 2021, currently operates on Android version 10.
Atiku said the operating system reached end-of-life status in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates and patches. He questioned why INEC had not upgraded the system despite its substantial budget and the proximity of the 2027 general elections.
The former Vice President also asked why forthcoming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, could not be used to test an updated BVAS platform. He described INEC’s handling of the issue as suspicious and warned that unresolved vulnerabilities could affect confidence in the electoral process.
Atiku argued that an outdated operating system could provide opportunities for cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to election devices. He said such vulnerabilities could potentially expose stored voter accreditation information and polling unit result data to interference before transmission.
The former Vice President also expressed concern about the transmission of polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing, IReV, portal. According to him, outdated security and cryptographic components could increase the risks of interception, disruption or manipulation of data transmitted between polling units and the result-viewing platform.
Atiku also raised questions about the biometric functions of the BVAS, which uses fingerprints and facial recognition to authenticate voters. He argued that weaknesses associated with legacy software could affect the accuracy and resilience of the biometric verification process.
He further warned that software defects could result in application crashes, particularly when the devices experience heavy usage during elections. Such failures, he said, could cause delays in voter accreditation and create additional challenges for election officials and voters.
The former Vice President supported calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software before the 2027 elections.
He argued that critical national infrastructure should not depend on an operating system that has reached the end of its supported lifecycle. According to him, continuing to operate the electoral system on legacy software could unnecessarily expand the potential attack surface.
Atiku said addressing the concerns before the next general elections would be important to strengthening the security, reliability and credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process. The statement was issued by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja on August 11, 2026.
