The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not change its directive on the use of card reader for the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections, its chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said yesterday..

Jega, who spoke during a post 2015 general election assessment retreat for resident electoral commissioners in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, said it was only during the Presidential election that the commission instructed states that wherever there was evidence of card readers failure they should revert to manual accreditation.

The retreat’s theme: “2015 General Elections: Lessons and way forward.”

There was manual accreditation in some states, including Rivers and Akwa Ibom.

The chairman, who said no elections had ever been perfect, insisted that the last general elections were highly successful.

Jega said: “If you recall there was at least an interval of two weeks between the presidential and governorship elections; we studied everything that was a problem with the card readers within those two weeks and rectified them.

“We were absolutely sure that for the governorship election card readers would not be a problem. That was why for the governorship election we instructed that the card readers must be used.



“And so, if there is evidence of any place where they just put aside the card readers and use manual accreditation, that election can be examined; I am sure the tribunal will look at the evidence clearly as to what happened.

“As far as I know, the commission did not change that directive: so card readers must be used, and there were places where card readers were not used for the governorship election, then people were entitled to produce evidence for that so that the commission could take necessary actions.

“What we meant by card readers must be used is that we did not expect that in any polling unit, people will say card readers were not functioning, people would say we were going to use manual accreditation, no; because we said if a card reader failed, come back the following day, we would replace the card readers for the election to take place. As far as I know, virtually in all the places, where the card readers actually failed, we came back the following day and did the elections.

“We have repeatedly said that the elections were not perfect, and no elections have ever been perfect, but the last general elections were highly successful, but we are doing this retreat in order to assess what we did so that we can continue to improve, because there is still room for improvement.

“I am happy about what we had done, and of course, I am bowing out because my tenure has expired. We all have tenures, and once our tenure expires, we all leave and other persons will come.

“So, we are happy that we had been given the opportunities to do 2011 and 2015 general elections, and we are also happy that the outcome had been generally commendable. We hope the next commission will keep on doing a better job than what we had done."

Good morning 2 y'u all

back 2 bed

Wike please be ready to prove how u got 1.2 million votes
God is not at sleep

oga jega who told you the election was successful after you conive with your brothers to rig the election,ooh because a peaceful man like jonathan decided to let everything go down the drain,please what happen to the under age voting in most part of the north,why was it that state like borno,adamawa where there has been consistence violence has high rate of pvc collection than south west and east where there is no problem,why was it that most part of the north did not experience card reader hitches like other regions even our former president ecountered such,tell us the method you use in distributing pvc in the north and how many people collected pvcs in borno state where almost half of the state have been displaced by insurgency,but i thank God for a man like jonathan who did not put his ambition first before the people otherwise even you will not be in nigeria by now,go and enjoy the peace from south south

APC is still bitter about the disgrace they received in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states



They should go to court...

Mr Jega you need some rest! You and I knows that the card readers was not 100 percent certified by the producers! And most of them did not even function at all talk more of having problem along the line and there was no provision made for the repair of thosefailed card readers! So please guide your ultrances and resign, allow this government to go on because even in your state, there was huge manipulation of figures! And remember the same card readers that was used for the presidential election was still the same ones used for the guber elections so when did you repair of fix those problems? This is not the way to handle this or else eventhe presidential election would be examined

pboy247:
Mr Jega you need some rest! You and I knows that the card readers was not 100 percent certified by the producers! And most of them did not even function at all talk more of having problem along the line and there was no provision made for the repair of thosefailed card readers! So please guide your ultrances and resign, allow this government to go on because even in your state, there was huge manipulation of figures! And remember the same card readers that was used for the presidential election was still the same ones used for the guber elections so when did you repair of fix those problems? This is not the way to handle this or else eventhe presidential election would be examined

you have no defense, he knew they were not perfect that was why he said if it didn't work and can't be replaced on time let the election continue the next day....go back and read inec press release before the governorship election

chibaic:
oga jega who told you the election was successful after you conive with your brothers to rig the election,ooh because a peaceful man like jonathan decided to let everything go down the drain,please what happen to the under age voting in most part of the north,why was it that state like borno,adamawa where there has been consistence violence has high rate of pvc collection than south west and east where there is no problem,why was it that most part of the north did not experience card reader hitches like other regions even our former president ecountered such,tell us the method you use in distributing pvc in the north and how many people collected pvcs in borno state where almost half of the state have been displaced by insurgency,but i thank God for a man like jonathan who did not put his ambition first before the people otherwise even you will not be in nigeria by now,go and enjoy the peace from south south

so are you also saying that persons like Babangida Aliyu rigged himself out....how about bauchi and plateau states.....GEJ lost because most of the masses where tired of him...simple

Poo everywia