2027 Election: Atiku Raises Alarm Over ‘Outdated’ BVAS Operating System

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has raised concerns over the use of an outdated Android operating system on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), warning that it could expose Nigeria’s electoral process to cybersecurity and operational risks ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Atiku’s concerns were contained in a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja and disclosed by his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, on Facebook.

The former Vice President reacted to reported glitches during the Osun State mock accreditation exercise conducted on August 1, 2026, as well as comments by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Director of ICT, Dr Lawrence Bayode.

Bayode had reportedly disclosed during an interview on Arise TV on Monday that the BVAS, introduced into Nigeria’s electoral system in 2021, currently operates on Android version 10.

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

He questioned why INEC, despite its substantial budget, had not upgraded the BVAS operating system ahead of the 2027 elections or used upcoming off-cycle elections, including the Osun governorship election, to test an updated version.

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According to him, deploying critical election technology on an outdated operating system could create vulnerabilities that cybercriminals might exploit to gain unauthorised access to devices or interfere with voter accreditation and polling unit result data.

Atiku also expressed concerns over the transmission of election results through public telecommunications networks to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, warning that outdated security and cryptographic components could increase the risk of attempts to intercept, block or manipulate election data.

The ADC presidential candidate further raised questions about the biometric functions of the BVAS, which uses fingerprint and facial recognition technologies to authenticate voters.

He argued that weaknesses in outdated software could affect the accuracy and resilience of biometric verification systems and potentially create opportunities for attempts to circumvent the accreditation process.

Atiku also warned that software defects associated with legacy systems could result in application crashes, particularly under heavy usage, causing delays and disruptions during voter accreditation.

Describing INEC’s handling of the issue as “suspicious,” Atiku warned that failure to address the concerns could undermine public confidence in the integrity of the 2027 elections.

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He consequently backed calls by cybersecurity experts for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software ahead of the elections.

Atiku maintained that running critical national election infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system could unnecessarily expand the country’s cyberattack surface and expose the electoral process to avoidable risks.