The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan, has directed commission officials to give priority attention to elderly voters during the August 15, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

Amupitan gave this directive on Saturday while inspecting the mock accreditation exercise across Osun State as part of preparations for the election.

The INEC chairman commended the inspection at Polling Unit 1, Ward 1, Post Office, St. Peter’s Primary School, Ibokun, in Obokun Local Government Area, where he monitored the operation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and interacted with voters and election officials.

He later visited polling units Olorunsogo, Egbedore Local Government Area, Ibokun in Obokun Local Government Area and Ogo-Oluwa in Osogbo Local Government Area to assess the performance of the BVAS devices during the mock accreditation exercise.

At Olorunsogo Polling Unit 4, some voters reported a temporary malfunction of the BVAS device, which briefly delayed accreditation before INEC technical officials restored the machine to normal operation.

Speaking after the issue was resolved, a voter, Ayodele Samuel Abiodun, said, “The BVAS was not working well at first, but the officials quickly fixed the problem and accreditation continued without further delay. We appreciate INEC for responding promptly.”

The exercise also showed that both old and newly issued Permanent Voter Cards were successfully authenticated by the BVAS after the temporary glitch was resolved.

INEC said the mock accreditation was organised to test the functionality of the devices, identify possible technical issues and strengthen public confidence ahead of the Osun State governorship election.

The INEC chairman said, “So far, I have been to four polling units. My assessment so far is that we are happy that the machines are working ahead of the election.

“This is a mock accreditation, and the essence of the mock accreditation is to ensure that our tools, our Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), will work on the election day.

“And from what I have seen, I am happy that the BVAS are working.

“The initial problem that was encountered has to do with the old cards and when the complaints were laid we were able to solve that problem. As you have seen from here , the old card is now working , the new cards too are working.

“That is the essence of this accreditation, so that we don’t run into this problem during the election day. The ICT Director has confirmed that the problem is solved for good.”

Commending the election personnel, Amupitan praised their professionalism and urged them to maintain the same level of commitment during the August 15 governorship election.

He also reminded all election officials to arrive at their assigned polling units by 7:00 a.m. on election day to ensure adequate preparations before voting begins at 8:30 a.m.

Amupitan also held discussions with ad-hoc staff, seeking updates on the accreditation process and asking whether they had encountered any operational challenges while conducting the exercise.

The officials informed him that the BVAS devices were operating efficiently, explaining that facial biometric verification took about one minute, particularly for voters presenting newly issued Permanent Voter Cards.

They further stated that no major technical challenges had been recorded at the polling unit, adding that the accreditation process was progressing smoothly.