15 parties insist on Jega’s removal, non-usage of card reader

Fifteen political parties, on Wednesday, insisted on the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega.
They also declared that card readers should not be used for the March 28 and April 11 general elections to avoid chaos.
“Since Prof Attahiru Jega has shown lack of professionalism and good judgement in his actions so far in the conduct of the 2015 elections and since he has about three months to the end of his tenure as INEC Chairman, we, the stakeholders, urge him to quietly consider proceeding on terminal leave so that a more competent person can handle the current election process,” they said in Abuja.
Four of the leaders of the parties, who signed the statement on their behalf, are the National Chairman of the Mega Progressives Peoples Party (MPPP), Prince Dare; National Chairman of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Dr Onwubuya A. Break-forth; presidential candidates of the Peoples Party of Nigeria, (PPN), Dr Kelvin Chinedu Opumu Alagoa and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Dr. Rafiu Salau.
To them, if card readers are used, they will boycott the polls.
The parties said the concept of using card readers “has a lot of implications which may negatively impact on the conduct of a credible, free and fair elections on March 28 and April 11”.
Spokesperson of the political parties and National Chairman of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Dr Onwubuya A. Break-forth, stated that “the first drawback is that this device is relatively a new technology that has not been tested or tried in a kind of mock election or previous formal elections prior to this time.
“Therefore, we the concerned group of leaders of political parties, presidential candidates, governorship and National Assembly candidates, hereby request INEC to stop forthwith, the proposed use of the card reader for this March 28 and April 11 general elections or we may consider boycotting the election”.
He argued that delaying the introduction of the card reader device would enable the nation and the electoral umpire itself to properly ascertain its workability and efficiency in the conduct of elections.
According to the party chief, the consequences of the use of card reader, which is time-bound, is most likely to lead to manipulation and would result in the massive rigging of the election and ultimately disenfranchise bonafide Nigerian voters.
He said the move by INEC will amount to subjecting the general election to a mere trial-and-error affair should the card reader fail to live up to expectations.
“Moreover, if the card reader should develop some technical problems, there is a possibility that the consequences of such development would affect about 40 or 50 per cent of polling booths nationwide.
“Because of the tendency of the card reader device to develop some technical fault any time during the voters’ accreditation process, that was the reason we agreed with INEC recently that the election should be postponed in polling booths where a substantial number of card reader defaults were recorded because it would disrupt the entire election process.
“As major stakeholders in this election process, we suggest that the easiest method of accreditation and verification of PVCs, should be for INEC to use manual confirmation of the pictures and particulars or data of the PVC holders to ensure that it corresponds with the voters register with the electoral officers in the polling units and in front of the party agents. This way, it will minimise the obvious chances of voter disenfranchisement.
“We, the stakeholders, are not saying that an improved and faster technology should not be used to achieve development in the electoral process, but it should not be in the general elections. The PVCs have already solved a lot of these problems.
“We also want INEC to respond to this emergency and also within 24 hours, approve our request because time is of the essence. This positive response is necessary so that we would be able to meet the demands of our party members and majority of the Nigerian voters who have expressed great anxiety and concern over this matter”.