elections scheduled for March 28
and April 11 continued on
Wednesday with 15 political parties
and five presidential candidates
threatening to pull out of the polls
if the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) goes
ahead with it.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the
parties said the concept of using
card readers for this coming
elections as being planned by INEC,
has a lot of implications which may
negatively impact on the conduct of
a credible, free and fair elections on
March 28 and April 11.
The spokesman of the political
parties and national chairman of the
Advanced Congress of Democrats
(ACD) Dr Onwubuya Break forth, said
the first drawback, is that the device
is relatively a new technology that
has not been tested or tried either
in a mock or formal elections before
this time.
“Therefore, we the concerned group
of leaders of political parties,
presidential candidates,
governorship and National Assembly
candidates, hereby request INEC to
stop forthwith, the proposed use of
the card reader for this March 28
and April 11 general elections or we
may consider boycotting the
election,” he said.
He further argued that delaying the
introduction the card reader would
enable the nation and the electoral
umpire itself, to properly ascertain
its workability and efficiency in the
conduct of the real general
elections.
According to him, the consequences
of the use of card reader, which is
time-bound is most likely lead to
manipulation and would result in
the massive rigging of the election
and ultimately disenfranchise
bonafide Nigerian voters.
He said the move by INEC will
amount to subjecting the general
election to a mere trial and error
affair should the card reader fails to
live up to expectations.
“Moreover, if the card reader should
develop some technical problems,
there is a possibility that the
consequences of such development
would affect about 40 (forty) or 50
(fifty) per cent of the polling booths
nationwide.
“Because of the tendency of the card
reader device to develop some
technical fault any time during the
voters accreditation process, that was
the reason why all the Political
Parties agreed with INEC recently,
that the election should be
postponed in polling booths where a
substantial number of card reader
defaults were recorded because it
would disrupt the entire election
process.
“As major stakeholders in this
election process, we suggest that the
easiest method of accreditation and
verification of PVS, should be for
INEC to use manual confirmation of
the pictures and particulars or data
of the PVC holders to ensure that it
corresponds with the voters register
with the electoral officers in the
polling units and in front of the
party agents. This way, it will
minimize the obvious chances of
voters disenfranchisement.
“We the stakeholders are not saying
that an improved and faster
technology should not be used to
achieve development in the electoral
process, but it should not be in the
general elections. The PVCs have
already solved a lot of these
problems.
“We also want INEC to respond to
this emergency and also within 24
hours, approve our request because
time is of the essence. This positive
response is necessary so that we
would be able to meet the demands
of our party members and majority of
the Nigerian voters who have
expressed great anxiety and concern
over this matter.
“Since Prof Attahiru Jega has shown
lack of professionalism and good
judgement in his actions so far in
the conduct of the 2015 elections
and since he has about three
months to the end of his tenure as
INEC Chairman, we the stakeholders
urge him to quietly consider
proceeding on terminal leave so that
a more competent person can
handle the current election process”.
The political parties leaders who
signed the statement unbehalf of
the parties include, the national
chairman of the MEGA Progressive
Peoples Party (MPPP), Prince Dare
Falade, Presidential Candidate ,
Peoples Party of Nigeria, (PPN),
Prince Dr Kelvin Chinedu Opumu
Alagoa and Dr. Rafiu Salau of
Alliance for Democracy (AD).
It would be recalled that Nigeria’s
main opposition party, the All
Progressives Congress had on
Wednesday claimed that “there is an
ongoing effort to compromise the
card reader, which President
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration
sees as inimical to its rigging plan
www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/03/04/15-parties-5-prezy-candidates-ask-inec-to-drop-card-readers/

PDP is obviously not interested in conducting a free, fair and credible election just because they know there is no way they ll get the votes needed to return them to power through the ballot if elections were as aforementioned.

I watched them (the 15political parties and 5presidential candidates) spit nonsense as directed by PDP on the script..I also watched Fani Kayode shamelessly oppose the use of card reader on behalf of the man that claims to have conducted the best election so far in Nigeria. (How ironic)...And I wept for Nigeria

It seems these enemies of democracy do not know INEC is about to conduct a mock exam soon to test these card readers..or is it just because they have exchanged their brains for "dollars"?..I heard that's what the PDP pays these days.


You can imagine how determined these pple are to destroy this country..Those that are shouting GEJ continue, pls think twice. There is still time to regain sanity.

15 political parties ke! Where are they? Do they only exist on papers like GEJ's achievements? Parties that cannot boost of a single councilor in the whole country? Nigerians only know APC and the PDP pls.

I read some news n started crying for dis country...Y always Nigeria.

Very neccessary

Niwdog:
Very neccessary

have u thought about a scenario where the card readers won't work on the election day,what do u think will happen? Don't believe everything that inec or jega says again.if pvc was used in osun and ekiti and results were manipulated ,how can they be manipulated now?at least before u start a new process u must have tested it ,inec is gambling with the presidential election. They should have tested the card readers during osun and ekiti state guber elections.this isn't the time to test anything new but to get it right.

Card readers work in ghana, it worked in Lesotho, it worked in Tanzania. It will work in Nigeria.
You obviously have not stopped the mentality of Adedibu's amala politics from deceiving you.

onatisi:
have u thought about a scenario where the card readers won't work on the election day,what do u think will happen? Don't believe everything that inec or jega says again.if pvc was used in osun and ekiti and results were manipulated ,how can they be manipulated now?at least before u start a new process u must have tested it ,inec is gambling with the presidential election. They should have tested the card readers during osun and ekiti state guber elections.this isn't the time to test anything new but to get it right.

onatisi:
have u thought about a scenario where the card readers won't work on the election day,what do u think will happen? Don't believe everything that inec or jega says again.if pvc was used in osun and ekiti and results were manipulated ,how can they be manipulated now?at least before u start a new process u must have tested it ,inec is gambling with the presidential election. They should have tested the card readers during osun and ekiti state guber elections.this isn't the time to test anything new but to get it right.

What is this one saying? To please ur likes, INEC is about to conduct a mock examination of the card readers in the 6 geo-political zones(2 states from each). What else do you want?

How can any sane man oppose the use of card readers? Smh for you

midolian:


What is this one saying? To please ur likes, INEC is about to conduct a mock examination of the card readers in the 6 geo-political zones(2 states from each). What else do you want?

How can any sane man oppose the use of card readers? Smh for you

come on man use ur brains .let inec conduct test run of the card readers first before using it. This is pure simple common sense .

The voice of Jacob but the hand of Esau. PDP should remember the 5 leprous fingers of Abacha - peace of Allah be upon him.

onatisi:
come on man use ur brains .let inec conduct test run of the card readers first before using it. This is pure simple common sense .

I have used mine and I am urging you to use yours..read my post again

[s]

OAUTemitayo:
Card readers work in ghana, it worked in Lesotho, it worked in Tanzania. It will work in Nigeria.
You obviously have not stopped the mentality of Adedibu's amala politics from deceiving you.

[/s] dorrorubbish. Address the issue if u have anything tangible to contribute or shut up .

midolian:
I have used mine and I am urging you to use yours..read my post again

no ,u haven't .read ur post again.

My comment is base on Op headline, so am with you oo the mission to abolish card readers.
@onatisi

Niwdog:
My comment is base on Op headline, so am with you oo the mission to abolish card readers.
@onatisi

what ppl don't understand about our polity is that nigeria is a complex country and any single mistake can trigger off anything. A single message from buhari triggered off the killing of ppl whether he did it delibrately or not is another issue. What we are saying is get the system right and perfect it before using it. Don't use a presidential election as a test run for a new system. If it fails the effect will be callosal.

OAUTemitayo:
Card readers work in ghana, it worked in Lesotho, it worked in Tanzania. It will work in Nigeria.
You obviously have not stopped the mentality of Adedibu's amala politics from deceiving you.

no mind the guy abeg..

Just to please his likes, INEC is going to conduct a mock examination to test the card readers. I seriously wonder why they are still not pleased. Its obvious that these TANoids and their paymasters have accepted defeat right b4 elections.

onatisi:
have u thought about a scenario where the card readers won't work on the election day,what do u think will happen? Don't believe everything that inec or jega says again.if pvc was used in osun and ekiti and results were manipulated ,how can they be manipulated now?at least before u start a new process u must have tested it ,inec is gambling with the presidential election. They should have tested the card readers during osun and ekiti state guber elections.this isn't the time to test anything new but to get it right.

Talk like an educated individual please.. Is card reading technology a new innovation?

kokoA:
Talk like an educated individual please.. Is card reading technology a new innovation?

has it been used in nigeria before ?how many of those going to vote are educated?it is obvious many of u haven't even voted before so u don't know anything about election days in nigeria.u only sit down and type scenarios u haven't been in.

onatisi:
has it been used in nigeria before ?how many of those going to vote are educated?it is obvious many of u haven't even voted before so u don't know anything about election days in nigeria.u only sit down and type scenarios u haven't been in.

what has education got to do with voting? The card readers are there for voters accreditation.. All that a voter needs is his/her PVC and his/her fingers to authenticate the card, that's all.. What do you mean by has it been used in Nigeria before? This device is designed to read cards for God's sake! It's a standard device used all over the world.. Is just like saying you will refuse to use a washing machine because you are used to doing your laundry manually and you are not sure a washing machine works well, meanwhile your neighbour has one he has been using for years..

kokoA:
what has education got to do with voting? The card readers are there for voters accreditation.. All that a voter needs is his/her PVC and his/her fingers to authenticate the card, that's all.. What do you mean by has it been used in Nigeria before? This device is designed to read cards for God's sake! It's a standard device used all over the world.. Is just like saying you will refuse to use a washing machine because you are used to doing your laundry manually and you are not sure a washing machine works well, meanwhile your neighbour has one he has been using for years..

you still haven't answered my question and which is what happens when there is an hitch while using it? stop talking about ghana politics because u don't know hoot about it. the card reader was introduced and tested almost 3 months before the elections and still there were problems .