Devil in the card reader... by Ochereome Nnanna

AS we steam closer to 28th March, the day for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the hottest new bone of contention is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Card Reader (CR).

It is that little techy machine which confirms you are the rightful owner of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) which you have come to vote with. The INEC has decided to conduct the accreditation of voters with this machine. Though a large section of the stakeholders in the forthcoming elections has thrown its support behind the INEC, yet others are foot-dragging and calling for caution.

Actually, the Card Reader is supposed to be the “middleman” gadget in a prospective three-segment digital or electronic voting system that, when perfected, could easily eliminate fraud and vote rigging. By the time the system is fully in place, a voter should be able to stroll into a polling station, produce his PVC, get authenticated by the CR and thumbprint on an electronic voting machine which will capture the vote with a paper trail, and transfer the action to a central database along with millions of others from around the country.

It should then become possible for any registered voter to cast his or her vote from any part of the country, irrespective of where they registered. That way, those who use electoral violence to force non-indigenes among them to flee to their home states, and thusly disenfranchise them, will no longer profit from their dastardly, savage and unpatriotic antics. Even those who, for some cultural or religious reasons, voluntarily choose to relocate to their hometowns to vote can do so. They will be able to live their cultural lifestyles in full and still be able to perform their electoral franchise.

Why should anybody kick against the digitalisation of the electoral process if they really mean well for the growth of our democracy? Specifically, why is it that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be foot-dragging on INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega’s electronic innovations, while the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is all out for them? Could it be true that the PDP is afraid that the innovations will jeopardise their plots to rig themselves back to power? Or could it be that the APC is relying heavily on Jega and his cabal of compromised Commissioners to use these devices to hand power to the APC and General Muhammadu Buhari as part of a grand regional plot to snatch power from President Jonathan by all foul means?

As far as I can see, the devil is not in the PVCs and the Card Readers. The devil is in the humans manipulating them. Those people are not only in the PDP and APC, the foremost rivals in these elections. When the chips are down, political parties all over the world will attempt to leverage on any existing fair or foul advantages to win elections.

The problem becomes alarming when the electoral regulator and umpire like our own INEC is seen to be wittingly or unwittingly part of a putative plot against the sanctity of the elections. The INEC under Jega has not been able to convince many stakeholders that it is prepared to conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable elections come March 28th and April 11th. Many of its activities are beclouded by reasonable suspicion.

By now, it is clear even to Jega’s most selfishly-motivated ardent supporters, that the INEC was simply not ready for a free, fair and acceptable election on February 14th 2015. The fact that one month after the election was supposed to have been concluded INEC extended to March 21st, the collection of the PVCs proves this point. The fact that the field testing of the Card Readers in twelve sample states took place three weeks after the first round of polls would have taken place further validates it. The fact that some states have only started crossing the 60 per cent threshold in the collection of the PVC’s further nails it. It is now obvious that Jega’s INEC, by fraudulently arrogating readiness to itself for February 14th, intended to disenfranchise millions of Nigerians, and those political interests egging it on must have been part of this plot.

The point has been made, even after the field testing of the Card Readers, that it is not possible to accredit more than 320 voters in five and half hours (8.00am to 1.30pm) since, on the average, it takes about five minutes to accredit one voter with the Card Reader. To compound matters, the INEC workers are habitually late to their duty posts even in accessible areas, let alone remote locations. Fewer people will be able to get accredited. More valuable time will be lost to arguments and quarrels between officials and party agents as problems arise from the ill-chewed deployment of digital tech by INEC. There will be electronic hitches. Millions will not be able to vote, and the outcome may not reflect the true wishes of the generality of the electorate.

INEC had four years to plan for these digital innovations. There were five state elections in between, in Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun. INEC shied away from using any of them to try out the tech scheme because according to Jega, the elections were too sensitive. State elections are sensitive but presidential elections are not! Jega’s INEC did not embark on pubic enlightenment about its innovations. Jega’s INEC has been given more billions than any other INEC Board, yet it never engages in voter education. Theywait till a few weeks to the general elections, and then introduce these controversial digital devices and processes, thus sowing confusion in the system. I won’t be surprised if Jega, once again, calls off the elections midway as he did in 2011. Jega and his INEC are the devils in the Card Readers. They may have done the damage already.

To mitigate the impending national disaster the armed forces and police must be massively deployed to safeguard the polls and protect the electorate on polling days.