Monday, January 17, 2011
DDC machines reject Obasanjo's fingerprints

Francis Falola and Oluwole Josiah


A mild drama occurred in Abeokuta on Sunday as former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a dose of the frustration many Nigerians face in getting registered for the April general elections.



Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the Ita-Eko voter registration centre in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Sunday.
Photo: Olayinka Olukoya (Nigerian Tribune)



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He had arrived his Ward 11 Ita-Eko, Abeokuta at 11.53am, but ended not registering at the ward as his fingerprints were rejected several times by the Direct Data Capturing machine in use.

Before his arrival in company with his wife, Bola, people had patiently waited to be registered.

Our correspondent reported that when the DDC machine rejected Obasanjo's fingerprints, the Ogun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr, Martins Okunfolami, and other INEC officials present made arrangement for another machine to be used.

When the second failed, the INEC officials, out of desperation, accompanied Obasanjo to another registration point in the ward. But at the point, the DDC machine malfunctioned.

When all hopes appeared dashed, the former President got up and tried to leave, saying he would come back on his return from the overseas trip.

But apparently sensing the implication of Obasanjo's failure to register, the INEC officials made telephone calls repeatedly while pleading with the former President to give them more time for an expert to come to the registration point.

The expert eventually arrived around 12.45pm and had Obasanjo registered 20 minutes after.

Speaking after, Obasanjo, who did not show any sign of annoyance, described the incident as the "hiccup of a new process."

He, therefore, cautioned Nigerians against castigating INEC over the shaky start of the exercise, saying it was normal for people to experience difficulty in handling a new programme such as the technology- driven voter registration.

He said, "Whenever you are starting a new programme like this, it's likely to have hitches until everybody masters it. Today (Sunday) is the second day. I believe that by the middle of this week, both the people who are carrying out the registration, the technicians and INEC at the highest level will be able to make this work smoothly.

"So, I don't believe that we should now start to castigate and to condemn. If, of course, by the middle of the week it's not working as it should be, we will all see and then those who designed it would have to advise us how we go about it.

"But for now, let's regard this as the hiccup of a new process."

Reacting to journalists' question on the possibility of extending the voter registration, the former President maintained that it was too early for anybody to start thinking of such.

Obasanjo said, "No, it is too early; that's why I said by the middle of this week, whereby three or four days would have gone, then those who are there would know that anything that you do for 14 days, and four days have gone you and haven't done one-quarter, then it requires some form of rethinking.

"Let us not prejudge them, let's give them time to think and rethink if rethinking is necessary."

Obasanjo's experience, however, appears better than that of the President of the Senate, David Mark, who was not able to register after spending more than two hours at ward I Otukpo, Benue State.

Mark had gone to a registration centre in the ward at 10 am on Sunday with his wife, Helen, but was advised by INEC officials, who said they were having problems with the DDC machine attached to them, to go home and return later.

When he returned to the cente at 4pm, he made efforts to be registered but the machine still did not work.

Disappointed by the development, Mark advised INEC to put its house in order to make the voter registration a success.

He said, "I have made spirited efforts to register to no avail. I went to the registration centre about 10am. I waited for more than two hours and nobody could be registered. I returned at about 4pm yet nothing could be done.

"INEC must put its house in order, otherwise this whole exercise would be in jeopardy. We cannot afford anything that would threaten the conduct of the forthcoming elections. INEC must sit up and save us this embarrassment."

The President of the Senate added that reports reaching him indicated that the DDC machines were not functioning.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Benue, Alh. Nasiru Ailara, later visited Mark in his residence to appeal to him for his understanding.

"We have identified the problem, and provided a solution with a new software that would address the problem. Please accept our apology for the inconveniences," Ailara said.