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INEC
Chair, Attahiru Jega
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There
were indications on Monday that the Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, would on Wednesday review the
outcome of the card reader test with Resident Electoral Commissioners.
The meeting
would also review the commission’s readiness for the March 28 and April 11
general elections.
The Punch reports:
An
INEC commissioner, who spoke in confidence, said, “The commission has been
impressed by the testing of card readers. We are so happy that Nigerians are
appreciating our efforts.
“Nothing
can stop us from using the card readers, which we believe will eliminate fraud
during the elections.”
Jega’s
Chief Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu, had earlier on Monday told The
Punch that
INEC had started “compiling reports” from its field officers, including the
RECs, on the mock test of the card readers in 12 states. The states are Rivers,
Ebonyi, Ekiti, Taraba, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Lagos, Delta, Bauchi, Anambra
and Kano.
Idowu
added that a statement would be issued by the commission once the results were
compiled. He said, “The commission is compiling reports from the field
officers, including the RECs. The commission will look at the reports and make
its findings known. While we are waiting for this, we must also say that the
reports we have received from the media and Nigerians showed that the exercise
was a success.”
The
two main political parties in the country – the Peoples Democratic Party and
the All Progressives Congress – have different opinions on the outcome of the
card reader test.
While
the PDP expressed concern over what it called a series of complaints by
Nigerians regarding the exercise, the APC said it was satisfied.
On complaints
by some people that the battery of some of the card readers did not work
optimally during the test on Saturday, Idowu said that was not true.
“At
the end of the exercise in most places, the batteries still had 60 per cent
power unused in them,” he added.
Idowu
also reaffirmed that INEC, would deploy 152,031 card readers for the elections
that would take place in 119,973 polling booths across the country.
According
to him, some polling booths with more than 4,000 registered voters had been
broken into units within the same centre.
He
said, “We have 119,973 polling booths across the country. However, there are
some polling booths which have more than 4,000 voters. These ones have been
broken into units within the same booth. The only difference is that all the
voters won’t be in the same queue.
“We
won’t have more than 700 voters in a voting unit or polling booth, but all the
voters in a particular polling unit or booth will still vote in the same place,
but will not be on the same line.”
He
further explained that the number of polling booths and units in each state
would determine the number of card readers to be deployed in them.
Meanwhile,
the Oyo State REC, Rufus Akeju, has stated that 5,620 card readers would be
used in the state for the elections.
Akeju,
in an interview in Ibadan, said, “We have
received 6,000 card reading machines already from Abuja. We expect that more
machines could be sent if there is a need for them. We
actually need 5,620 machines but the extra machines are there in case any of
them malfunctions during the election process. We do not want any delay during
the accreditation process; that is why we have requested more of the machines.”
The
REC, who was in Ekiti State on Saturday for the mock test of the card readers,
said contrary to criticisms, the device would not delay the accreditation of
voters.
“The machine has 14
hour-lifespan. We did not use up to 20 per cent of the battery of any of them
during the test-run.”
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