Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns over the alleged use of an outdated operating system on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that it could expose Nigeria’s electoral system to cybersecurity and operational risks ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), expressed the concerns following reported failures during the Osun State mock accreditation exercise held on August 1, 2026, and comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode.
His media aide, Paul Ibe, disclosed the development in a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
Bayode, while speaking on Arise TV on Monday, reportedly said the BVAS, which was introduced into Nigeria’s electoral process in 2021, currently operates on Android version 10.
In a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja on Tuesday, Atiku noted that Android 10 reached end-of-life status in 2023 and no longer receives regular security updates and patches.
He questioned the decision to run a critical election technology platform on an outdated operating system, arguing that it could expose the electoral process to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and operational failures.
Atiku also questioned why INEC, despite its substantial budget, had not upgraded the BVAS software ahead of the 2027 elections or used upcoming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, to test an updated version of the system.
He described INEC’s handling of the issue as “suspicious” and alleged that it could undermine the integrity of Nigeria’s elections.
According to Atiku, vulnerabilities in an outdated operating system could potentially be exploited by cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to BVAS devices and tamper with stored voter accreditation records or polling unit result data before transmission.
He also expressed concern over the transmission of polling unit results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
The former vice president said outdated security and cryptographic components could increase the system’s exposure to cyber threats, including attempts to intercept, block or manipulate data transmitted between polling units and the result-viewing platform.
Atiku further raised concerns about the biometric functions of BVAS, which uses fingerprint and facial recognition technologies to accredit voters.
He argued that an outdated biometric framework could affect the system’s accuracy and resilience against attempts to circumvent its verification processes.
He also warned that software defects associated with legacy systems could trigger application crashes, particularly during periods of heavy usage, potentially resulting in delays in voter accreditation.
Atiku said he supported calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software ahead of the 2027 elections.
He maintained that running critical national infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system could expand the system’s attack surface and expose Nigeria’s electoral process to avoidable risks.
