Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria, a
non-government organisation, has sent a freedom of information request to the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the usage data of card
readers during the February 23 presidential and national assembly elections.
In a letter dated March 8, 2019
and signed by Seun Akinyemi, a research associate at EiE, the organisation
specifically requested a breakdown of card reader usage state by state for
polls.
The information, which it says
INEC is mandated to provide within seven days according to the FoI law, should
reveal the number of voters who were fully accredited via PVC verification and
biometrics and also those who were partially accredited.
Akinyemi, who directed the letter
to Mahmood Yakubu, a professor and chairman of INEC, said EIE is a non-partisan
network of individuals and organiaations “committed to building a culture of
good governance and public accountability in Nigeria through active
citizenship”.
The research associate wrote:
“Transparent electoral process is an essential condition to achieve good
governance. Card reader has been adopted as means of accreditation for voting
since the 2015 general elections.
“The card reader was also adopted
as a means of accreditation during the 2019 elections with the slogan ‘No PVC,
No Voting’.
“The accreditation process for
the 2019 Presidential and the National Assembly elections has been the subject
of intense public debate.
“Therefore, it is critical to
study the accreditation patterns across the country to ensure the integrity of
our electoral process.”
The letter was stamped received
by the office of the INEC chairman on March 8.
According to INEC figures,
82,344,107 Nigerians registered to vote in the 2019 general election, out of
which 82,002,024 were verified while a total of 72,775,585 voter cards (PVCs)
were issued.
The commission also said
29,364,209 voters were accredited to vote on February 23, out of which 27,324,583
cast valid votes and 1,289,607 were rejected.
President Muhammadu Buhari (APC)
had 15, 424,921 votes and Atiku Abubakar (PDP) 11,262,978 — a difference of 3.9
million.
However, the PDP is disputing the
figures and Atiku has decided to challenge the outcome in court.
The court rejected his request to
conduct forensic examination of the ballot papers.
The accreditation by card readers
is considered to hold the key to the actual number of valid votes.
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There shall be no peace for the wicked, APC will never have peace in their 2019 reign except they did not rig this presidential election
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