Mutiu Agboke, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State, has clarified that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) does not require internet connectivity for voter accreditation during elections.

Agboke made this known while addressing members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Osogbo on Wednesday.

He said, “BVAS does not work with network during accreditation. It functions offline. The only time network is needed is when results are being uploaded to the IReV. If anyone claims otherwise, including any of our staff, that is manipulation.”

He also stated that 360,794 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected by their owners ahead of the 2026 governorship election.

Agboke also announced that the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise will commence online on August 18, while physical registration across the 30 local government areas and the Modakeke area office would begin on August 25, 2025.

He stated that the exercise would run daily from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and that no staff of the commission shall demand any money from the registrants.

He stated that the CVR would be open for fresh registration, individuals residing in a place but currently residing elsewhere and those whose cards were defaced or lost, clarifying that not all categories require fresh registration.

Agboke, who urged eligible citizens, particularly those who have just turned 18, to participate in the registration, revealed that Osun State currently has a total of 1,954,800 registered voters.

The REC called on journalists to speak out loudly against vote buying, electoral violence, and other malpractices, saying “the media is strategically positioned to help the commission to speak loudly against the tendency to want to purchase votes on election day like a commodity, against the orchestrated violence, against various electoral malfeasances. We must speak against them and must be the loudest. (BusinessDay)