This piece was first published March 2015 as the nation was busy preparing for the general elections. The issues raised then are still germaine given the controversy raised in the use of the card reader for the conduct of elections in the country.
This piece becomes more relevant today, given the recent judgements delivered by the Supreme Court, especially in respect of Rivers and Akwa Ibom where the use or otherwise of the card reader was the high point of the legal contention by the parties in court. Yet, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has released the time table for the governorship election in Edo and Ondo states slated for September 10 and November 5 respectively.
The Card Reader. Yes, the Card Reader. This is an electronic device introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to revolutionise our electoral system in Nigeria. The device has an inbuilt chip capable of authenticating the real owner of a permanent voter’s card, PVC. Ever since it’s introduction, there have been fierce auguments. This has been raging since February and it’s getting more intense as the probable date for the general elections gets nearer. Both sides of the divide have been putting up strong cases to convince the world to agree with their position. This could be selfish or out of sheer patriotic zeal. Yet, according to Shakespeare, there is no art in finding the mind’s construction in the face. Again, every lizard is lieing on the belly, so, nobody can really tell the one suffering from stomach pains. Hence, one cannot really tell the under current behind the strong positions taken by either side. Given the entire scenerio, I must say that the media has become a willing tool in the hands of these politicians and their hired megaphones who parade themselves as public affairs commentators/analysts. These days, everybody is a media consultant. But I must say that all these rabble rousers are nothing but jobmen who are after their daily bread while Nigeria can go to blazes.
These unpatriotic elements must know that we are talking about elections and the modalities because we have a country we call our own. If by their actions/inactions and utterances the country is plunged into war, they will be affected either directly or indirectly since we are all Nigerians .Hence, we must be careful of what we do and what we say in trying times like these. This was why I was not too comfortable when our First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was quoted in the media to have ordered the people of Calabar to stone anyone who comes to them to campaign for change. We all know that the campaign slogan of the main opposition party, the APC is change. That means that the APC candidates and their supporters should be stoned when they come to campaign in the state. It was rather unfortunate, especially coming from such a personalty who has influence over the machinary of governance. Some other persons have been making similar statements but were never taken that seriously. We know you as Mama Peace , please remain peaceful even in the face of provocation. The 20 years jailed term recently handed down to the former Ivorian First Lady, Lociene Gbagbo by the International Criminal Court at The Hague, ICC, should serve as a lesson to those in power across the world . This election will come and go, it must not divide us as a nation, we must not spill blood because of the quest for power. Those beating war drums should have a rethink.
I must say here that the best thing that has ever happened to Nigeria in terms of election management is the coming of Dr Atahiru Jega as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. This academician cum activist has brought a lot of innovations to our electoral system in the last five years when he has been in the saddle. For this, some fraudulent politicians love to hate him. They see him as a spoiler, someone who has come to block all the leackages for electoral malpractices in the system. Something they keep on perfecting at every election and they want to manipulate every process. But this time around, Jega seems to have beaten them to their game, he is always a step ahead of them. The man has said a loud NO to all forms of electoral manipulations in the land, regardless of whose ox is gored, typical of a stubborn Fulani man. For this, they have been waging war against Jega, they want him sacked so that they can bring in a clueless “yes” man who will do their bidding. I am thoroughly disappointed in the PDP as it’s being alleged to be orchestrating prostests across the country for the removal of Jega . This may backfire come March 28. The party has also openly canvassed against the use of Card Reader. Without mincing words, this is a clear case of support for the culture of electoral fraud. Unfortunately, it’s too late In the day, Jega must remain and the Card Reader has come to stay, Nigerians are resolute on these!
The man has tried to reduce to the barest minimum cases of electoral fraud with the introduction of numerous innovations. One particular area where Jega has beaten the electoral cheats hands down is the introduction of the Card Reader. The Card Reader is expected to eliminate cases of actual votes cast outnumbering the number of voters accredited. That is, multiple voting and impersonation which have been the bane of election management in Nigeria from independence. This sore point is what Jega has vowed to check and leave behind an indelible imprint. Smart politicians have always exploited this loophole to manipulate the process. But Jega is determined to put a final check to it. Hence, the old political crooks are up in arms against it. They are working round the clock to discredit the use of the card reader, sponsoring write-ups in the print media and heavily biased discussion programmes on the electronic.
These old crooks want to continue with their old habits of cooking up election figures, but Jega says our votes must count with the use of the card reader. Progressive minded Nigerians who love this country must be on the same page with Jega in this electoral revolution. So far, the commission has procured a whopping 172, 000 units of card readers to be distributed in all the wards across the country. Officers have been trained on how to use them and demonstrations on their workability have been done before critical stakeholders. Only last week, the electoral body did a mock election in 225 polling units across the six geo-political zones of the country, two states per zone, that is, 12 states in all to further demobstrate to Nigerians that the introduction of the card reader remains the best thing that has ever happened in the history of elections in Nigeria.. At the end of the exercise, witnessed by local and international observers, it was generally applauded. So, what else?
INEC included the cost in its budget for the year and this passed through the scrutining of all the relevant bodies before it was finally passed. The demonstration to authenticate the use of this magical device was done before the Senate, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, presided over by Mr President himself, the media and the civil society groups. They all passed it for use in the coming general elections. Were all these bodies and personalities hypnotized?
I must say that an idea whose time has come cannot be stoped by anybody. Any attempt to stop it will tantamount to standing in front of a moving train. So, the time has come for the use of the Card Reader in the conduct of general elections in Nigeria. Order for supply made and payment concluded. The cost of these card readers is better imagined than described, especially in this era of crash in value of the naira.. Now, these crooks want the equipment discarded for their own selfish reasons without minding the cost implication in terms of naira and kobo to a sick economy like ours. This culture must stop and the Card Reader must be.
