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An INEC Card Reader (R) and a Card Reader (L) being
used to verify PVC ownership through biometric identification technology
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As the Independent national Electoral Commission
(INEC) at the weekend test-ran the Smart Card Readers in some states of the
federation as part of its preparations for the general election, a
cross-section of Nigerians and groups have expressed mixed feelings on the
desirability or otherwise of the usage of the machine for the elections.
THISDAY reports:
Selected responses from the field are as follows: The
National Coordinator, Good Governance Initiative (GGI), Dr. Harruna Shettima,
has described the test-run of the Card Readers as a grossly inadequate exercise
incapable of ensuring a free, fair and hitch- free election.
A press statement on INEC’s preparedness to
conduct the March 28 general election and made available to journalists
at the weekend, quoted Shettima, as saying that the mock exercise was below
average, characterized by several reports of flaws and petulant failures
totally incongruous with the present democratic dispensation.
He said even though conducting the mock election
exercise prior to the general election proper was laudable but it nonetheless,
exposed the underbellies of an institution that was ill prepared; using an
apparatus that would disenfranchise millions of Nigerians at polling
booths.
According to him, “Conducting the mock election in
about 33 per cent of the country ahead of the general election is a welcome
development but unfortunately, it has succeeded in exposing the
inadequacies of the card readers and the electoral body to ensure that every
voter who turns up to exercise their voting right on March 28 and
subsequent weeks would be properly enfranchised, as the machines failed in more
than 40 per cent of the areas captured for the exercise.”
Shettima said INEC should desist from fooling
Nigerians about its readiness to conduct the forthcoming elections maintaining
that if it needs help and wants more time to firm up its logistics before the
March 28 presidential elections, it should be honorable to say so by telling
the nation the truth rather than being economical with the facts which almost
everybody appears to have access to.
Also, a civic action group promoting good governance
and democracy, Move on Nigeria, has called on INEC to take a second look
at the use of the Card Readers and make necessary adjustments.
The group alleged that INEC might have created a
monstrosity by introducing a never-been-used technology for the conduct of a
major election that will end up in catastrophe except the country moves back to
the very simple clear cut way of verifying and accrediting voters for an
election.
In a statement made available to journalists in
Abuja and signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Mr. Clem Aguiyi, the
group said the nation can afford to do away with the Smart Card Reader rather
than risk having an election that is not credible.
“Everyone appears genuinely concerned about the SCR
but somehow INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega and the APC are the least
worried. If there are things they know that the rest of us don’t know they
should tell us.”
According to the group, “While President Goodluck
Jonathan is committed to bequeathing to Nigeria a legacy of free, fair and
credible election, it is most likely he is not on the same page with the INEC
chairman who from all intent and purposes is working towards a predetermined
answer.”
For instance, a former Deputy National Chairman
(South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has expressed
doubts on the efficacy of the Card Readers to be used for the elections,
Speaking with journalists on his arrival from London
at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos yesterday, George
challenged the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega to explain how he intends to provide a
contingency plan if the Card Readers fail in some polling booths,
especially at the rural communities.
He said Jega, must have to convince Nigerians on
what contingency plan he has before some political stakeholders would fully
endorse the use of the equipment for the verification of authentic permanent
voter’s cards during the elections.
The PDP stalwart said INEC has to prove to Nigerians
that it is ready for a hitch-free election with the use of the Card Readers,
noting that millions of Nigerians would have been disenfranchised if INEC had
gone ahead with the earlier dates scheduled for the elections without the
postponement.
However, the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress in Delta State, Chief O’tega Emerhor, insisted that the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must use cards readers to
accredit voters before voting in the upcoming elections.
In a release by the Director of Media and Political
Communication of the O’tega Emerhor Campaign Organisation, Dr. Fred
Oghenesivwe, Emerhor faulted the call for discarding the use of card readers by
the PDP.
“How can they say card readers should not be used
because they are untested? We have to start from somewhere and the time to
start using card readers is now. Moreover, INEC has been test running the
devise and even demonstrated it in the senate chambers. Between now and the
elections they still have time to continue test running and perfecting the use
of the card reader,” he added.
Oghenesivwe quoted Emerhor as saying that “those
clamouring for dumping the card reader are looking for a window to rig the
elections. Rigging has always made nonsense the will of our people; now we have
a devise that will help make genuine votes count, some people are complaining.
They want to abandon a very useful devise that has cost billions in tax payers’
money. APC will resist any such calls.”
Also, the National Coordinator for Committee for
Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP), Amitolu Shittu, has said the use of
Card Readers for the conduct of the polls would eliminate fraud and over voting
during the period.
He said such development would go a long way in
assisting the INEC to achieve a credible and acceptable election results.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin yesterday on the
state of the nation, Shittu said the uses of the Card Readers would also
stabilise the nation’s democracy since it would put an end to the alleged
manipulations of votes by self-seeking politicians during the polls.
According to him, “the usage of the Card Readers
would authenticate the owner of the permanent voters cards before allowing to
vote and this would assist us to achieve a credible and acceptable election
results at the end of the elections.”
He said: “It is worth mentioning
that there are a lot of advantages in the usage of Card Readers system in the
forthcoming polls especially in the authentication of eligible voters that
would votes during the polls.
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