Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the card reader
machines the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) intends
to use to accredit voters during the March 28 and April 14 elections
as a fraud capable of scuttling the elections.
The governor, who expressed doubt over the forthrightness of the INEC
chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega in handling the elections said; “Unless
INEC has an agenda that is different from conduct of free, fair and
credible elections, use of the card readers should be suspended for
future elections so as to enable proper test running of the
technology.”
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and
New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who said he was not against
the use of any technology to ensure credible elections, added that the
flaws recorded during the last Saturday test run exercise were too
fundamental to be ignored.
He pointed our that Jega was not being truthful on INEC preparedness
for the election, saying; “Jega told us before February 14 that INEC
was ready. He heaped the blame for postponement of the elections on
security.
“However, the same INEC that Jega said was ready to conduct elections
on Febuary 14 was testing card readers on March 7, meaning that all
the flaws that characterised the Saturday exercise would have been
witnessed on February 14. Wouldn’t that have been disastrous?”
The governor, who said no righr thinking person will want to
experiment with major elections, added that; “INEC ought to have
tested the card reader technology with at least, a bye-election before
using it for the general elections.”
He said; “From the Saturday exercise, it can be assumed that it will
take an average of one minute for a card to be read. Given that
accreditation of voters will start at 9am and end at 12noon, the card
reader will be able to read 180 voters cards in three hours. What will
then happen in polling units with 500 voters or more?”
Speaking further, Governor Fayose said the machines failed to
recognise Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in most of the states where the
Saturday test run took place while in some, the machines’ batteries
lasted for less than three hours.
“For instance, in Ebonyi State, we were told that Card Readers didn’t
recognize the fingerprints of voters who registered for the 2011
general elections. Even the State Resident Electoral Commissioner
(REC), Dr. Lawrence Azubuike, acknowledged that the authentication
process by the Card Reader was very poor.
“In Taraba State, many voters complained that the Card Readers could
not identify their fingerprints.
“Most importantly, it has been discovered that the card readers can be
pre-programmed to reject PVCs. The card readers can also be
pre-loaded, even without using the right PVCs.
“Therefore, Jega and his INEC must have to further convince Nigerians
on their real intention for trying to use a technology that is yet to
be tested and adjudged foolproof for a major exercise like the
president election that is capable or making or marring Nigeria
