Fraudulent Politicians Afraid Of Card Reader, Says Jega

Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said yesterday that those opposed to the deployment of Card Reader were those who feel their fraudulent conduct will be detected.

But, he assured that his commission has made all the necessary preparations for transparent elections.

The Nation report continues:

Jega said although INEC had evolved many electronic measures aimed at limiting fraud in the nation’s elections, it would delay the application till 2019.

“To my mind, and to many in INEC, this is one of the many reasons many people are opposing the use of the Card Reader. Because a clear way that they had used in the past to somehow get away with fraudulent conduct in elections, will now be made difficult. Because if they do, it is very likely now to be established.

“The use of the Card Reader will help us address some of the concerns about the alteration of, particularly accreditation figures, to fraudulently give advantage to a candidate and disadvantage the other candidate.

“Information about accreditation, which will be saved on the Card Reader and which will be transmitted to our data base, will be useful in term of addressing irregularities, when it emerge in relation to alteration of accreditation figures,” Jega said.

The INEC Chairman spoke in Abuja yesterday while inaugurating the Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) Situation Room, where CSO representatives, will receive and analyze reports of the elections.

He assured that the commission had done “everything possible to ensure that the 2015 general elections are successful, and in particular, we have done everything possible to ensure that we have prepared operationally and logistically for the conduct of the elections. We have worked very closely with security agencies and we have received assurances, through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, and most specifically from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), because the police have a lead role in terms of providing security for the elections.

“These reassurances make us comfortable that all that need to be done has been done to ensure the successful conduct of the elections,” the INEC boss said.

Jega gave a picture of some of the improvements the commission has made since the last election in the movement of material and men to minimize hitches experienced in previous elections and its preparation for the rescheduled general elections.

“Beginning from today, we are commencing the rolling out, leading to Saturday, the Election Day. Before now, all the non-sensitive materials had been taken to all the local government offices. Form today, the sensitive materials will be received from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and taken to our state offices, accompanied by agents of political parties.

“Then, later this evening, till tomorrow morning, these will be distributed to various local governments, and will also be accompanied by parties’ agents. At the state level, we expect that as from tomorrow evening, up until Friday afternoon, all the materials taken to the local governments will also be distributed to the ward levels.

“At each ward level, we have established what we call Registration Area Centre (RAC). We have equipped it reasonably to ensure that both our staff and security agencies spend the few hours of the night there, in readiness to deploy very early in the morning to the various polling units in each of those wards.

On collation and presentation of results, Jega said the commission will use the same method it applied in previous elections.

He stressed that although the commission had tested the process of electronic transmission of results, having used it in some elections in the past, it will not use it in the 2015 general elections because of the reaction of some people to the introduction of Card Reader in these elections.