by Chukwu Obi
Journalists were on Wednesday kept for over thirty minutes as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) struggled to showcase the working condition of its card readers, which have been deployed for the elections.
The commission had invited journalists to showcase its preparedness for the election.
However, the exercise failed as the card reading machine could not work for over 30 minutes, a situation that left the audience embarrassed.
The PVC of one of the journalists was inserted, after which that of a member of the Civil Society Organization was equally tried, but both failed the test.
Meanwhile, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman, INEC has insisted that only card readers would be used for accreditation of voters for the general elections.
Jega made this known while briefing the Senate on Wednesday in Abuja on INEC’s preparation for the elections.
He said that the use of the cards was constitutional, insisting that the commission would not revert to manual accreditation of voters during the elections.
He assured that if any card reader developed problem, it would be replaced.
Jega told the senators that the commission would not use Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) for election under any condition as being canvassed in some quarters.
He stated that the use of the card reader would not contravene any section of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
According to him, the use of PVCs and the card reader for the conduct of the elections, we believe, is in accord with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
