The Independent National Electoal Commission (INEC) is right now test-running the card readers expected to be deployed for the coming elections in March and April.
A lot is hinged on Saturday’s exercise, which has been at the centre of controversy of late with some parties including the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) expressing concern about the effectiveness of the card readers and the high number of persons to be disenfranchised by the adoption of the technology.
The parties had urged the INEC to resort to Temporal Voters Cards (TVCs) that were in use in the 2011, which was adjudged to be fairest in the country’s recent history.
According to INEC, the scheduled field-testing of the Smart Card Readers will hold in 225 polling units and 358 voting points across 12 Registration Areas (i.e. Wards) in 12 states of the Federation. A statement On Thursday by Mr Kayode Idowu,Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman,Prof. Attahiru Jega, said the affected registration areas are in Rivers,Ekiti,Ebonyi,Kano,Taraba and Kebbi states. Other states are Lagos,Delta,Bauchi,Niger and Nasarawa states.
“Affected RAs are in the following Local Government Areas (LGAs): Port Harcourt City (Rivers), Abakaliki (Ebonyi), Ado Ekiti (Ekiti), Gassol (Taraba), Kumbotso (Kano), Bunza (Kebbi), Kokona (Nasarawa), Shiroro (Niger), Ikeja (Lagos), Aguata (Anambra), Oshimili South (Delta) and Jama’are (Bauchi),” he said.
