The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
assured Nigerians that the card readers would function
properly during the April 11 gubernatorial election.
There were technical hitches across the country during the
presidential and parliamentary elections, as the device failed
to read the biometrics of many voters, including that
of President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, Kayode Idowu, spokesman of Attahiru Jega,
chairman of INEC, said the factors responsible for the
setback have been identified and that adequate measures
have been taken to avoid a recurrence.
“Some of the networks that the cards were fixed in had
challenges,” he told Channels Television.
“That was the complaint on that day but you will discover
that in the course of time, these card readers that they said
were malfunctioning started to function. It was when they
got the word across to them that remove those sim cards to
heat it with the phone before you insert again but when you
do that you have to reconfigure, so those things have been
identified and have been taken care of.
“The device itself, in terms of the product quality, is of very
high integrity; that we have demonstrated and proven. So
we know what accounted for those challenges and we are
working on them.”
Idowu said contrary to the impression that the card readers
marred the exercise, the challenges only occurred in few
polling units.
“We had challenges with the card readers in less than one
percent of the 155, 000 polling units across the country,” he
said.
“It was only unfortunate that we had issues in high-profile
places like Otuoke [hometown of the president in Bayelsa]
and when you have such a thing it overwhelms other areas.
But like I said, we have identified those areas and we are
working on them.”
Responding to the allegations of underage voters, rigging
and related complaints, Idowu challenged people who have
evidence of electoral malpractice to draw the attention of
the authorities to such issues.
“In the election environment, the presiding officer is the
president of that environment. But we also have observers
and party agents and if there are issues and the presiding
officer is not noting it, the agents and observers could draw
his or her attention to such issue and when they do that, the
presiding officer has the power to request the security
agents to apprehend [the underage voters].
“I have seen pictures of underage voters but unlike the case
of the thumb printing where the polling units were
mentioned, I find it difficult to place, to know the polling
units where underage voters were allowed to vote.
“All you have is anecdote and anecdotes don’t help. It is
incident reports that are valid. If the presiding officer, for
whatever reason, does not act, INEC has a situation room
that you can reach on 0700callINEC.”



www.thecable.ng/inec-sure-card-readers-will-work-saturday

the truth is that it's not everybody card reader would capture.

Good

As far as manual accreditation is not resorted to