Jega Exposes Those Afraid Of Card Readers
The Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has said
that those opposing the use of the card readers in this year’s elections
were those who feel their fraudulent conduct will be detected.
Prof Jega made the statement in Abuja on Wednesday while inaugurating the Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) Situation Room, where CSO representatives, under the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, will receive and analyze reports of the elections.
The Nation newspaper reports that the INEC boss also assured that his commission has made all the necessary preparation for transparent elections this Saturday and on April 11.
He said although his commission has evolved various electronic measures aimed at limiting fraud in the nation’s elections, it will delay the application till 2019, but will only apply the card reader this time.
Prof Jega said: “To
my mind, and to many in INEC, this is one of the many reasons many
people are opposing the use of the card reader. Because a clear way that
they had used in the past to somehow get away with fraudulent conduct
in elections, will now be made difficult, because if they do, it is very
likely now to be established.
“The use of the card reader will help us address some of the concerns about the alteration of, particularly accreditation figures in order to fraudulently advantage to a candidate and disadvantage the other candidate.
“Information about accreditation, which will be saved on the card reader and which will be transmitted to our data base, will be useful in term of addressing irregularities, when the emerge in relation to alteration of accreditation figures.”
He assured that the commission has done “everything possible to ensure that the 2015 general elections are successful.”
Jega added: “We have worked very closely with security agencies and we have received assurances, through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, and most specifically from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), because the police has a lead role in terms of providing security for the elections.
“These reassurances make us comfortable that all that need to be done has been done to ensure the successful conduct of the elections.”
Commenting
on collation and presentation of elections results, Jega said the
commission will use the same method it applied in previous elections.
He said that although the commission had tested the process of electronic transmission of results, having used it in some elections in the past, it will not use it in the 2015 general elections because of the reaction of some people to the introduction of card reader in this elections.
“We will not put that electronic transmission of results to use in the 2015 general elections. We consider the reactions from innovation of using the card reader and we felt that we should just, cope with that rather than create additional challenges about electronic transmission of results. And particularly, the memory of that in the Kenya election is still fresh in the memory of many.
“So, we felt that lets keep piloting it and improving upon it beyond 2015. Hopefully, by 2019 general elections, the commission will get there where it can do full electronic transmission of results.
“Even though we are not going to do electronic transmission of results, we have tried to address a concern, which was expressed after the 2011 general elections, with regards to the transparency of the collation of the results,” the INEC boss stated.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Situation Room and Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, urged INEC to do all within its powers to ensure that it improves on all the lapses experienced in past elections.
Nwankwo commended INEC for its efforts so far, noting that there was a substantial improvement on its preparation as against the experience in past elections.
He urged the military to realize that its role is to give back-up security to the police, whose main duty is to provide security during elections.
Prof Jega made the statement in Abuja on Wednesday while inaugurating the Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs) Situation Room, where CSO representatives, under the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, will receive and analyze reports of the elections.
The Nation newspaper reports that the INEC boss also assured that his commission has made all the necessary preparation for transparent elections this Saturday and on April 11.
He said although his commission has evolved various electronic measures aimed at limiting fraud in the nation’s elections, it will delay the application till 2019, but will only apply the card reader this time.
Prof Attahiru Jega
“The use of the card reader will help us address some of the concerns about the alteration of, particularly accreditation figures in order to fraudulently advantage to a candidate and disadvantage the other candidate.
“Information about accreditation, which will be saved on the card reader and which will be transmitted to our data base, will be useful in term of addressing irregularities, when the emerge in relation to alteration of accreditation figures.”
He assured that the commission has done “everything possible to ensure that the 2015 general elections are successful.”
Jega added: “We have worked very closely with security agencies and we have received assurances, through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, and most specifically from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), because the police has a lead role in terms of providing security for the elections.
“These reassurances make us comfortable that all that need to be done has been done to ensure the successful conduct of the elections.”
A PVC is undergoing authentication by the card reader
He said that although the commission had tested the process of electronic transmission of results, having used it in some elections in the past, it will not use it in the 2015 general elections because of the reaction of some people to the introduction of card reader in this elections.
“We will not put that electronic transmission of results to use in the 2015 general elections. We consider the reactions from innovation of using the card reader and we felt that we should just, cope with that rather than create additional challenges about electronic transmission of results. And particularly, the memory of that in the Kenya election is still fresh in the memory of many.
“So, we felt that lets keep piloting it and improving upon it beyond 2015. Hopefully, by 2019 general elections, the commission will get there where it can do full electronic transmission of results.
“Even though we are not going to do electronic transmission of results, we have tried to address a concern, which was expressed after the 2011 general elections, with regards to the transparency of the collation of the results,” the INEC boss stated.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Situation Room and Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, urged INEC to do all within its powers to ensure that it improves on all the lapses experienced in past elections.
Nwankwo commended INEC for its efforts so far, noting that there was a substantial improvement on its preparation as against the experience in past elections.
He urged the military to realize that its role is to give back-up security to the police, whose main duty is to provide security during elections.
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