INEC Boss, Attahiru Jega
The field testing of card readers which was held on Saturday was largely successful but not without some hitches.
These irregularities in the exercise
that was meant to be a dress rehearsal according to findings by our
correspondents ranged from the inability of the card reader to identify
some finger and thumb prints and slow pace of the process.
However, occurrences of success permeated most of the poll units visited by our correspondents.
The major grouse of electorate in Niger
State was the time spent on the accreditation of each voter. This, many
of the participants in the mock polls described as “too slow”
This drew the attention of both the
Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress in the state
on Saturday which commended the Independent National Electoral
Commission.
The state PDP Chairman, Umar Musa Maali,
said “the time spent to accredit one voter is much. If it can take a
minute per voter to be accredited, and with a polling unit like this
place that has over 1,000 voters, it is going to take over 1,000
minutes, which is about 16 hours, to accredit all the voters. The 16
hours is more than the accredited time of five hours. I do not know how
INEC is going to sort it out.”
The APC Publicity Officer in the State,
Jonathan Vatsa, while speaking on his party’s concerns over the Internet
connection, described the service as poor but that the party would
ensure INEC’s attention is drawn to it so that all polling units are
covered and captured during the elections.
INEC National Commissioner supervising
Kaduna, Kwara, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Dr. Chris
Iyimoga while addressing reporters, said the process of demonstration
to the public was smooth except for few hitches with some card readers
which could be due to finger identification.
He said “In some instances, people
cleaned their hands with methylated spirit which has to do with the
level of cleanliness of fingers, because, as soon as the fingers are
clean, you will be through.”
He disclosed that over 70 per cent of
eligible voters in Gwada ward had failed verification but were said to
be eligible since the data in the PVC corresponded with the official
list and also as the machine identified them as owners of PVCs.
Iyimoga also disclosed that if the
information given by the electorate is correct, the voter will still be
allowed to vote, adding that the Commission has backup for the card
reader in case there are cases of malfunctioning.
Ekiti
In Ekiti State, the turnout was low.
[/media-credit]
•An INEC officer verifying the fingerprint of Franca Oba at Niger Mixed
Secondary School, Asaba, Delta State …on Saturday.
As of 11:30 a.m, no fewer than 60 people
had been accredited in Dallimore polling unit 002 in the state capital.
The technical officers stated that the average time for the
accreditation ranged between four and six seconds.
Members of European Union Election
Observers, Mrs Rumi Ana Decheva and Mr Uros Urstga, who monitored the
mock accreditation commended INEC for the initiative, saying it would
help in adding credibility to the country’s electoral process.
The chairman of the Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Tunji Ogunlola, in an interview with our
correspondent after monitoring the exercise said, “It is very
transparent, reliable and fast. It will make rigging impossible.”
Ogunlola who said he monitored in
company with a few other political parties commended the INEC for a job
well done and advised all Nigerians to support the commission.
Former Commissioner for Tourism under
ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government, Alhaji Ayodele Jinadu, and
ex-Chairman, Ado Ekiti Local Government, Mr Sunday Ibitoye, described
the exercise as a huge success.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr
Sam Olumekun, who monitored the event said it had convinced Nigerians
about the usefulness and relevance of the machines in the coming general
elections.
He said, “We would have appreciated it
if the turnout has been better than this, but we have been able to
convince the people about the workability of the machines, which was the
main issue.
Delta
In Delta State, the exercise was not
without few hitches as our correspondent observed that INEC and voters
alike reported to the 14 voting units promptly at 8am when it was
scheduled to begin.
The units were located at Asagba Primary
School and Niger Mixed Secondary School, all in Asaba. Six of the units
were located were at Niger Mixed Secondary School while the rest were
at Asagba Primary School.
Most of the verification went on
smoothly, taking just a few seconds for the polling officials to
interview and test each voter with the card reader.
But there were a few cases where the
process caused anxious moments as it took several trials before the card
reader could verify the few voters.
One of such incidents occurred at
Polling Unit 12, where an elderly woman, Mrs. Franca Oba, and to endure
for almost 30 minutes before her fingerprint was accepted by the card
reader.
Unlike other voters that just came and
had their fingerprints verified within a few seconds, Oba had to avail
all her 10 fingers for verification for seven times before the reader
verified hers.
In her reaction, Oba said, “The card
reader is good. But if every voter has to go through this, then it means
people will not leave the polling unit before midnight.”
The Attorney General and Commissioner
for Justice of Delta State, Mr. Charles Ajuya (SAN), who monitored the
exercise praised the efficiency of the card reader but said it would
have been better if the exercise was taken to the rural areas.
The Chairman of the Delta State
Independent Electoral Commission, Mr. Moses Ogbe, said, “From what I
have seen, we should give the card reader a trial. It will go a long way
to improve our elections and democracy.”
But he advised that water or spirits
should be made available to clean the fingers of voters so that the
verification process could be smoother and faster.
Niger
In Niger, 42 per cent of the eligible voters who presented themselves for the exercise were not accredited.
This was confirmed by the INEC on Saturday.
A National Commissioner of the
commission Dr. Chris Iyimoga, while disclosing the figures from the 18
polling units in Gwada ward in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger
state 1,799 voters were authenticated by the card reader.
According to him “The card reader out of
1,799 eligible voters that turned up, authenticated 1,045 voters with
PVCs, leaving 754 unauthenticated”.
“With the figures we have, it shows that
58 per cent voters are authentic and 42 per cent are not authentic
going by the card reader”.
Lagos
In Lagos the turnout was low. Despite
this, there were a few hitches. At the polling units our correspondent
visited in Onigbongbo, Ikeja axis, most of the polling units recorded
between two and five registered voters turnout, while in some others, no
registered voter came out for the exercise.
INEC officials at the different poll
units which recorded a few registered voters told our correspondent that
it took between five to 20 seconds to capture the voter’s identity and
finger print on the card reader devices. However, there were a few cases
where the finger prints could not be accessed.
Rivers
In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, there
were also cases of finger prints not registering. This was noticed by
United Nations observers.
Leader of the group, Mrs. Eno Udensi,
who spoke, under the aegis of the United Nations Election Observers,
explained that based on her observation, the card readers were working.
Udensi, who was at the State Primary
School, Orominike to observe the test-run of card readers by officials
of the Independent National Electoral Commission, stated that though
there were some minor challenges in the exercise, it would not affect
the use of the items during the elections.
“The machines are working, even though
the thumb printing is failing in most cases, the face of registered
voters appears on the card reader. Some came with oily hands that make
their cards difficult to read.
“While it took about one or two minutes
for the card reader to okay one person, a particular person had to wait
for 15 minutes before the card reader was able to read his thumb print.
But the photographs are showing on the card readers,” she said.
Also, an INEC staff at Units 4,5,6 and 7
in Orominike State Primary School, said the card readers were hanging
while trying to authenticate eligible voters’ data.
The commission’s employee, who preferred anonymity, said the card readers worked well in some cases.
Earlier, a 25-year-old man, Princewill
Obioma, whose PVC could not be read by all the card readers used at the
State Primary School, Orominike, expressed bitterness over the
development.
Ebonyi
In Ebonyi, the exercise was marred by the slow pace in the authentication of PVCs.
Our correspondent observed that the card
reader took over 20 minutes to authenticate a single PVC, which is done
by matching the fingerprints in the database, during the exercise which
took place at Izzi Unuhu, in Abakiliki Local Government Area.
At Nkaliki Echara Primary School, out of
25 persons verified as at a point during the exercise, only six were
successfully authenticated.
It was the same scenario at Edukwu
Inyimagu Hall, where only three persons, out of about 70 verified
voters, were successfully authenticated at a particular time.
However, those whose fingerprints could not be verified by the card reader had their names and pictures on the voters register.
However, while the authentication process was slow, the card reader was very fast in verifying the voters cards.
Accreditation for the exercise, which held in 24 polling units in Unuhu Ward 10, started by 8:00 am and rounded up by 1:00 pm.
Addressing journalists, the Ebonyi state
Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC, Dr. Lawrence Azubuike, who
acknowledged that the authentication process was slow, noted that all
the challenges encountered in the exercise would be addressed before the
general elections.
Nasarawa
In Nasarawa, the inability of card
readers to verify the finger print of voters occured as many voters who
turned out for the exercise complained of delay in the capturing of
their fingers print by machine.
At Garaku Primary School polling unit,
out of the 10 registered voters accredited, four people were
successfully captured but it took about 15 minutes for the card reader
to capture the finger prints of the accredited voters after several
attempts.
The situation was similar at Otutu primary school, Fegen Angwa, Agwan Gimba, Agwan Takwa, Kurmi
Shinkafa and Kubere and Kofar Magaji
Alade and Agaba polling units. In an interview with our correspondent,
some of the voters, Mr.
Dangoje Mohammed, Gaya Umar Rico and
John Dangana, who suffered delay in capturing their fingers by the card
readers, protested the several minutes they spent during their
accreditation exercise.
INEC’s reaction
Reacting to the reported performance of
the card readers, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr.
Kayode Idowu, said the outcome of Saturday’s test-run exercise of the
voting devices was satisfactory.
“What we have seen in the test-run of
the card readers is not out of the ordinary. The so-called hitches
observed were things the INEC chairman had already highlighted. The
report that the devices recorded low success is not correct. In Lagos
alone, we recorded 90 per cent success in the test-run. We can assure
all Nigerians that INEC is ready to deploy the card readers for the
general elections. We are absolutely confident of the device,” Idowu
told SUNDAY PUNCH.
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