Card Reader Delays Nigerian Voting in Nasarawa State
By Online Ediitor on March 28, 2015
Nigerian Guardian
The independent national electoral commission INEC went through hurdles today, Saturday, as it battled with it’s card readers in most of the polling units in Nasarawa state to accredit eligible voters.
The card reader technology according to most of the voters who cued up early for accreditation is alien to the masses even as most of the ad -hoc staff of INEC were said not to have received proper training on the use of the card reader machine.
In places like Angwan Mission, Agwan Moyi Buba,Gidan Fulani public square and, Galadima polling units of Agwatashi ward and Kofar Mukunguji polling unit of Obi 1 ward in Obi local government area of the state, a good number of voters were stranded as it took between ten to fifteen minutes to accredit eligible voters.
The situation was not different at Agwan Moyi Buba when the senator representing Nasarawa south senatorial district, Sulaiman Adokwe was yet to be registered alongside other eligible voters at about 10:00 am.
The presiding officer in-charge of the polling unit, Stella Eze, attributed the problem to total failure of the Card Reader Machine.
“As you can see, I went there but the Card Readers is not working. Virtually every polling unit in Agwatashi ward is not working, that was why we kept insisting that this novelty of card reading that has not been properly tested is going to create a lot of problems for the elections” said Adokwe.
The Card Reader Adokwe insisted would undermine the elections but hoped that the INEC headquarters in Abuja would collect
the result nationwide and be able to decide as quickly as possible before Nigerians have a disaster in their hands.
North central zonal chairman of the peoples democractic party,PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Ayitogo, said INEC was not fully prepared with their Card Readers as it took five to ten minutes before a voter is cleared positing that the accreditation exercise would not be completed before the election commences thereby, disenfranchising many eligible voters.
Commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Mohammed Dan’Azumi, attributed the development to what he described as a deliberate attempt by INEC officials to frustrate the election as voters from his RCM primary school polling unit, Dadare, complained bitterly over the inability of the Card Reader to accredit a single voter as of 10:55 am.
Resident Electoral commissioner in the state Abdulahi Umar Danyaya, assured that all elible voters would vote saying the faulted Card reader Machines were only few and had been rectified.
He appealed to the eligible voters to remain calm as they will all be accredited to cast their votes as the incident form was handy to take care of any situation regarding the card reader.
Nigerian Guardian
The independent national electoral commission INEC went through hurdles today, Saturday, as it battled with it’s card readers in most of the polling units in Nasarawa state to accredit eligible voters.
The card reader technology according to most of the voters who cued up early for accreditation is alien to the masses even as most of the ad -hoc staff of INEC were said not to have received proper training on the use of the card reader machine.
In places like Angwan Mission, Agwan Moyi Buba,Gidan Fulani public square and, Galadima polling units of Agwatashi ward and Kofar Mukunguji polling unit of Obi 1 ward in Obi local government area of the state, a good number of voters were stranded as it took between ten to fifteen minutes to accredit eligible voters.
The situation was not different at Agwan Moyi Buba when the senator representing Nasarawa south senatorial district, Sulaiman Adokwe was yet to be registered alongside other eligible voters at about 10:00 am.
The presiding officer in-charge of the polling unit, Stella Eze, attributed the problem to total failure of the Card Reader Machine.
“As you can see, I went there but the Card Readers is not working. Virtually every polling unit in Agwatashi ward is not working, that was why we kept insisting that this novelty of card reading that has not been properly tested is going to create a lot of problems for the elections” said Adokwe.
The Card Reader Adokwe insisted would undermine the elections but hoped that the INEC headquarters in Abuja would collect
the result nationwide and be able to decide as quickly as possible before Nigerians have a disaster in their hands.
North central zonal chairman of the peoples democractic party,PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Ayitogo, said INEC was not fully prepared with their Card Readers as it took five to ten minutes before a voter is cleared positing that the accreditation exercise would not be completed before the election commences thereby, disenfranchising many eligible voters.
Commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Mohammed Dan’Azumi, attributed the development to what he described as a deliberate attempt by INEC officials to frustrate the election as voters from his RCM primary school polling unit, Dadare, complained bitterly over the inability of the Card Reader to accredit a single voter as of 10:55 am.
Resident Electoral commissioner in the state Abdulahi Umar Danyaya, assured that all elible voters would vote saying the faulted Card reader Machines were only few and had been rectified.
He appealed to the eligible voters to remain calm as they will all be accredited to cast their votes as the incident form was handy to take care of any situation regarding the card reader.
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