Human rights lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju has challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to draw practical lessons from the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national election.

He described the exercise as proof that secure, credible electronic voting is possible in Nigeria.

Adeyanju, who spoke after casting his vote in the NBA election, applauded the Nigerian Bar Association’s Electoral Committee (ECNBA) for what he described as a seamless, transparent and efficient electronic voting process.

According to him, the entire process of registration, verification and voting took him less than two minutes.

He said the ECNBA successfully deployed a secure voting system that relied on each lawyer’s unique Supreme Court enrolment number and a One-Time Password (OTP) verification process, making the election both fast and credible.

Adeyanju argued that the successful conduct of the NBA election has demonstrated beyond doubt that electronic voting can work in Nigeria if the appropriate technology and safeguards are deployed.

He urged INEC to closely monitor the exercise and adopt similar innovations to strengthen the country’s electoral process.

“The NBA election has shown that secure electronic voting is achievable with the right systems. INEC should closely observe this process and learn from it,” he said.

The activist also expressed hope that the Chairman of INEC, who is a Professor of Law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), would participate in the NBA election to witness firsthand the effectiveness of the electronic voting system.

He maintained that embracing such technology could significantly improve the credibility, efficiency and transparency of elections in Nigeria.