SIR: Many Nigerians thought that the introduction of the smart card reader was responsible for the improvement in the conduct of the 2015 general elections.
This was because it was introduced for the first timethen and politicians were unaware of its functionality as well as its legality.
Regrettably, with the passage of time, they have found a way round it by exploring the legal lacuna that has failed to fully accommodate it in our constitution and they have since taken advantage of the lacuna with reckless abandon.
This piece is in response to an article in The Nation of Thursday, November 28, 2019 titled, “Smart card reader has lost its credibility, says INEC”.
It is instructive to note that INEC electoral guidelines for the 2019 elections states that the elections will be transmitted under section 22(c)(x).
The procedure for collation of results too also mandates officials to “compare the number of votes verified by the card readers with the number of accredited voters and total votes cast for consistency” under section 28(b)(iv).
But going further, this provision has failed to be captured in all the sections bordering specifically on collation of presidential, national assembly, governorship and state houses of assembly.
For instance, collation of presidential results at the local government level as provided in section 30(iv) states, “cross-check the totals and entries in the EC 8C with the Collation Support and Result Verification System (CSRVS) secretariat where available.”
This means that presidential results can be announced at the local government level without card reader report from their central system
Furthermore, section 32(a)(iv) on the collation and declaration of presidential results at the national level states, “cross-check the totals and entries in the EC 8D(A) with the CSRVS secretariat for computational accuracy.” This is gross inconsistency.
If results are collated for presidential election at the local government level without cross-checking card reader report from the central system, how do you then collate results at the state level for final declaration with card reader? How do you then deal with the anomalies observed at the local government level when collating results at the state using card reader report from the CSRVS secretariat to cross check accuracy?
In the case of collation and declaration of results at both the national assembly election, gubernatorial as well as state assembly, the guideline states that results can be collated and declared without verification from the CSRVS secretariat.
This means that as results are collated, the central system for storing transmitted results goes on a journey and therefore not available for cross-checking to ensure accuracy and over voting?
Most of the election collations shown live by major television stations show that no cross-checking took place to ensure accuracy.
It is shameful and distasteful that INEC that introduced card reader has failed to utilize it properly to check election fraud would come out openly to declare that the “card reader has lost its usefulness”. INEC has thoroughly ridiculed itself as an umpire.
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It has even declared that the politicians have hidden under the legal lacuna to render the card reader useless but the question is: even the guidelines that INEC made to guide the conduct of the 2019 elections rendered card reader useless before the constitutional lacuna came in.
If INEC cross-checks with the central system for card reader, it would have reduced the confusion and electoral mess that the country has found itself in and would have reduced electoral fraud where politicians write results that are accepted and announced as experienced in Kogi and Bayelsa elections. INEC also ignores complaints from political parties and goes ahead to announce results and tells those not satisfied with the process to “go to court and seek redress” where their nightmare begins.
It is hoped that INEC quickly amends their guidelines to make it mandatory for results to be cross-checked with the Collation Support and Result Verification System (CSRVS) for accuracy and over voting at all levels – polling unit, ward, local government and state as the case may be before final announcement.
Equally, they should push for constitutional amendment to accommodate electronic voting as it is high time Nigeria joins the rest of world in taking her electoral system to the next level.
But the complete way out of our electoral woes is the adoption of a two-way voting process: manual and electronic. This two-way voting process will take care of many challenges.
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