There were revelations in Abuja on Monday on why President Goodluck Jonathan and the national leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party were angry with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega. Punch reports.
A week-long investigation showed that the President and his party are not happy with Jega over his insistence that the commission would use the Permanent Voter Cards for the election.
The PVCs were used for the conduct of the governorship elections in both Ekiti and Osun states, which were won by the PDP and the All Progressives Congress respectively.
Apart from this, the President and the party were also angry that the commission was going ahead with its decision to use card readers.
This technology was however not used in both Ekiti and Osun states elections.
The commission has said that the card reader can only read PVC issued by it and that any person that shows up at the polling unit without a PVC or with a card not issued by INEC will not be able to vote.
It was learnt that the Presidency and the ruling party were not totally against the use of the PVCs, but they were not happy with the use of card readers.
A worker in the Presidency who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday queried the insistence of INEC under the leadership of Jega to go ahead with the two items.
He said, “Now, what we are saying is that yes, the PVCs were used in both Ekiti and Osun governorship elections but the way and manner the PVCs are being distributed now is suspicious.
“Look at the figure of those who have collected from the northern part of the country and look at the figure from the southern part, where President Jonathan hails from.
“If the election is going to be by ethnic sentiment alone, you will know that our President has been defeated already. So, that’s the reason.
“Look at Ogun and Lagos states, which we all know are politically sophisticated. Why are the electorates not picking their PVCs? We are worried.”
In terms of PVCs collection, figures released by the commission indicated that Ogun State is lagging behind among all the states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.
In the state, only 808,590 out of the 1,829,534 registered voters had collected their PVCs. This figure represents a mere 44.20 per cent.
But the commission said that 1,387,401 PVCs had been delivered to the state.
Lagos State with 5,822,207 registered voters had recorded 63.44 per cent of the PVCs collection. This shows that 3,693,355 of the cards had been picked by their owners.
But the commission said that 5,558,062 cards had been delivered for voters in the state.
This means that there are 1,864,707 PVCs yet to be picked by their owners in the state.
When asked whether the refusal of the owners of the PVCs to pick them up could be attributed to Jega, the source said that the commission should embark on more enlightenment.
On the issue of card readers, a member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that there was no way the machine would be effective in the area of accreditation of voters.
When this issue was raised before the commission, an explanatory note presented to our correspondent showed that accreditation of a voter using the card reader is expected to last for about 20 seconds. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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We must use PVC! We must use card readers!
ReplyDeleteJega has a hidden agenda, now his days are numbered within the ambit of the law, Prof. Iwu proceeded on a three months terminal leave, IG of police did the same, therefore Jega should not be an exception.
ReplyDeleteC 1 enemy of nig.!!!
DeleteWe thought Goodluck Jonathan and his pdp claimed his a 21st century president whose technological wizardry knows no bound, one is still wondering why he is running away from the use of the card reader by INEC for the 2015 elections. Except the claim is one of his numerous on going cheap face saving propaganda in this presidential election which he has already lost dolefully to Buhari owing to his incompetence and corruption. The truth is that Jonathan supposed to lead the crusade for the use of the machines by the umpire (INEC) in the event of any resistance from the opposing parties but, it surprises one today that it is the so called digital ruling party cum its president are the ones kicking against the engagement of the machines as well as the PVCs. The desperate activities of GEJ,pdp and their cronies have continually exposed their hidden fraudulent motives of rigging the elections which he had rhetorically said will be credible,free and fair. This is a pure deceit and it is unfortunate that Nigerian never knew whom they wholeheartedly voted for 4 years ago, was simply a deceit under the cover of humility and good heart. Well, to some of us, it was not a surprise because we knew right from his days as a deputy governor as well as the emergency governor of his home state that: 1. he is no where near especially the PhD he claims to have, 2. he is too wasteful and fraudulent even when he was the emergency governor of Bayelsa state, 3. he is grossly incompetent, weak, inept, clueless and again corrupt,4. he lacks the natural will power and gut to be a president because Nigeria he claims to be superintending for 6 years now has drifted. what we have now is either you are a northerner or southerner, a christian or moslem, couple with a high level of unemployment,insecurity,underdevelopment,mediocrity and again corruption. Jonathan has successfully reduced himself to a very unreliable personae and to a paltry pd party president than a world class president. In a nutshell, it is obvious that Jonathan got nothing more to offer in the next 4 years assuming he wins freely and fairly. The country, this time requires excellent strategic thinkers and tacticians in all ramifications to sincerely revamp the nation if we truly want to move forward as a nation. Buhari/Osinbajo have all it takes to revive this dieing country back to live only if we genuinely love this country. A word is enough for the wise.
ReplyDeleteWaste of time and energy! save your breath and boring write up, go ahead and vote your dictator cum jihadist and we (GEJ's supporters) will still vote for our dearly beloved president! When GEJ wins you can as well leave this country, we really don't give a damn.
Deletedear anonymous 2, the difference between iwu and jega is that he knows his right, the constitution states that the 3months leave is by choice not a must, and every INEC Chairman is to conduct 2 general elections during his/her tenure, so its GEJ dat his definitely scared of sometin
ReplyDeletecan you quote the section of the constitution to back up your claim?. bandwagon man who is easily tossed around
DeleteYou sounded more naive than the writer.
DeleteGEJ said in one of his campaign that, he will fight corruption with technology, why is he afraid of card reader, is card reader not a technological way to fight corruption ? i doubt if our president knows election malpractice is corruption. we are watching.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 2,May God continue to be with you for the intelectual speech above.""was simply a deceit under the cover of humility and good heart""Nigerians,pls do not accept deceit anylonger.Prof.Jega is an erudite professor.He must have learnt one or two things from EKITI and Osun Election and this is the reason why he is insisting on using card reader.Therefore,Card reader must be used in this election after all GEJ want free and fair election and using permanent voters card and card reader is the only way to ensure this.Pdp and GEJ should allow prof. Jega do his work sincerely please.No one is bigger than Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteIn every discussion/interview with GEJ you will hear him talk about technology. He said he will curb Boko Haram with sophisticated technology. He said he will use technology to fight corruption in his second coming. He will use technology to farm.
ReplyDeleteAlas his party is afraid of PVC and CARD reader. Who is fooling who? Maybe card reader is not a sophisticated technology for election. May be technology is same as deceptology whenever he uses that word. Fellow Nigerians, watch out.
First president of Nigeria that tell lies perpetually and comfortably.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that our President know the meaning of technology?
ReplyDeleteReferring to the first anonymous, when Buhari ruled Nigeria in the past what did he achieve? Nothing. Why didn't he stop corruption that started looming during his tenure. Did corruption start recently in Nigeria? Mind you it has been in existent even before GEJ assumed office as a president. So stop insunuating nonsense because it is not only Buhari (a dictator like late Gadafi) that have the wit to rule. He is an old man and should retire like other wise men of his caliber retired. Don't you think that he is coming back to loot the country since he didn't have the opportunity to do so during his tenure due to to the coup by IBB. In fact, bear in mind that all the politicians are corrupt and egocentric. The only way to stop corruption in this country should be individualistic in the sense that every individual should say no corruption and hold onto it. This is because when all the no are summed up it will translate to entire Nigerians saying no corruption at a go. So, it should be individual rebranding from your private enclave where you commit small small sins that you call nothing but which will go a long way to jeopardize the economy and the image of the country.
ReplyDeleteReferring to the fourth anonymous, when Buhari ruled Nigeria in the past what did he achieve? Nothing. Why didn't he stop corruption that started looming during his tenure. Did corruption start recently in Nigeria? Mind you it has been in existent even before GEJ assumed office as a president. So stop insunuating nonsense because it is not only Buhari (a dictator like late Gadafi) that have the wit to rule. He is an old man and should retire like other wise men of his caliber retired. Don't you think that he is coming back to loot the country since he didn't have the opportunity to do so during his tenure due to to the coup by IBB. In fact, bear in mind that all the politicians are corrupt and egocentric. The only way to stop corruption in this country should be individualistic in the sense that every individual should say no corruption and hold onto it. This is because when all the no are summed up it will translate to entire Nigerians saying no corruption at a go. So, it should be individual rebranding from your private enclave where you commit small small sins that you call nothing but which will go a long way to jeopardize the economy and the image of the country.
ReplyDeleteReferring to the fourth anonymous, when Buhari ruled Nigeria in the past what did he achieve? Nothing. Why didn't he stop corruption that started looming during his tenure. Did corruption start recently in Nigeria? Mind you it has been in existent even before GEJ assumed office as a president. So stop insunuating nonsense because it is not only Buhari (a dictator like late Gadafi) that have the wit to rule. He is an old man and should retire like other wise men of his caliber retired. Don't you think that he is coming back to loot the country since he didn't have the opportunity to do so during his tenure due to to the coup by IBB. In fact, bear in mind that all the politicians are corrupt and egocentric. The only way to stop corruption in this country should be individualistic in the sense that every individual should say no corruption and hold onto it. This is because when all the no are summed up it will translate to entire Nigerians saying no corruption at a go. So, it should be individual rebranding from your private enclave where you commit small small sins that you call nothing but which will go a long way to jeopardize the economy and the image of the country.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is that if card distribution in the North is as high as 90% even in the North East where Boko haram is operating, why is it only 44% in Ogun and 64% in Lagos? Why can't INEC replicate the success in the north here in the South? Why has INEC not delivered 500,000 (half a million) voters cards to Ogun State by their own admission? With the situation as it is, why was INEC insisting it was ready to conduct the elections and was bent on doing so on February 14? As at February 14, only 4 million cards had been distributed in the 6 South Eastern states, whilst 13Million had been distributed in the North Western States and INEC wanted to forcefully conduct the elections that way! People should ask questions and INEC has work to do to convince all Nigerians of their neutrality. The excuse by INEC REC in Ogun State that may be the cards are not collected because may be the owners were students that have graduated holds no water. did Ogun State graduate 1million students? Is it the only state with tertiary institutions? How many universities or polytechnics does it have? They also now say 990 of the card owners are dead, does that convert to 1 million people? When are they going to deliver the remaining 500,000 cards to Ogun State for distribution to the card owners who can't vote without the PVC?
ReplyDeleteFellow Nigerians let the truth be said because of our children. The northerners are more politically aware than the southerners, hence the high rate of pvc collection. they can afford to qeue for a whole day to collect their pvc, unlike the southerners that can barely stay for hours. secondly the effect of the boko haram on their economy has proof the pdp as an incapable government for the next four years hence a great expectation for change. for the card reader I perceived the pdp is scare of loosing out in the coming election. for in a free and fair election anytime soon will sweep the pdp out of power this they know, reason for the various antick of the party to scuttle the election. the government that appropriate and release money for INEC is know scare of using what they use tax payers money to buy. my question for pdp is what are they thinking when Jega presented presented the idea to them before he was given approval.
ReplyDelete