Appraisal Of Card Readers In 2015 General Elections In Nigeria
Introduction
2015 general elections in Nigeria has come and gone but the impacts on our electoral system, government and the entire populace cannot be forgotten so soon and will continue to have a prime spot in our anal of political history.
The general elections came with new innovations, among which was the use of Card Readers. Majority of Nigerians gave kudos to Professor Attairu Jega, the immediate past Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman on this initiative and this also received accolades from the international bodies and world powers.
Nigerian general elections since 1999 has witnessed a lot of electoral violence such as unrest, rigging, snatching of ballot boxes, just to list but few.
Concept of Card Readers
Card reader is electronic gadget which can be likened to a smart phone but with special ability to read special cards and in this case 'Voters Cards'.
It has the ability to detect fake voters cards, confirm original voters cards and also compare the fingerprint on the voters card with fingerprint on the would-be voter, if valid, it will accredit him or her and if not, it will not.
It was very easy to use and has a Standby time of not less than 8 hours if fully charged.
It has been used in some countries before now and people attested to the fact that it brought much sanity to their electioneering, no wonder the immediate past Chairman of INEC, Professor Attairu Jega bent on using same even in the face of unmasked persecutions from the camp of those that had skeleton in their cupboards then or due to fear of unknown.
If Card readers will bring sanity to the polity and most especially the electioneering process, why would a right thinking man with the interest of the country at heart Kicks against it?
Though Nigeria's politics for now is politics of what I stand to gain (pocket/stomach politics)
Benefits of Card Readers
As I have stated in the introduction above, the introduction of Card readers really helped Nigeria during the last general elections not only that it reduces electoral frauds but also helped in cementing the dying unity among the citizenry.
The last election was adjudged to be one of the fairest elections Nigeria ever had after that of 1993 election that was claimed to have been won by late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO).
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) who was the standard bearer of Social Democratic Party (SDP) was said to have had majority of the lawful votes cast as against his opponent in NRC, Chief Tofa but the power that be then annulled the election due to its selfish reason and the bundle of this blame cannot but be traced to the then Head Of State, Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida (IBB).
The rest of what happened after the annulment of the said election is now history, but I'm using this medium to salute the innocent souls that went with the chaos that the ignoble unrest caused Nigeria.
May God console their respective families.
2015 General Elections was known to be the most competitive election in the history of Nigeria. The election came with a lot of intrigues and dirty politics from personal attacks to regional attacks.
The build up to the election was either to 'make or mar' Nigeria. Nigerians even thought at that time that the prophecy of the United States (US) will come into manisfetation, that Nigeria Will break up on or before her 100 years as a Nation.
We are all familiar with the marriage of inconviniency that Sir Lord Luggard did in 1914 that was known as Amalgamation. He brought Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate together as one.
It has been claimed in some quarters that Sir Lord Luggard's bringing Nigeria together as a country was experimental.
Though Nigeria as a country is divided along ethnic, religion and cultural beliefs, but it is still waxing strong.
Card readers made a larger percentage of Nigerians to have a bit of confidence in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and in the process.
International communities even gave kudos to INEC and Nigeria as a whole for the successful conduct of the general elections.
Though I don't posit that it was free and fair but was a clear achievement when compared to the previous ones. That majority was won not through ballots but guns.
Thanks to the election tribunals that upturned some of these elections.
May I quick to add that the role that the former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) played by throwing the towel was historic
and should be commended.
That singular act of his was unafrican and selfless, he deserves kudos, no wonder he was on the mission to supervise a general elections in Tanzania as international election observer.
It implies that the accreditation were conducted for them manually, using forms instead of electronically with the use of card readers.
(b) Inadequate technical knowhow on the part of the handlers of the card reader machines: Fire Briggade approach to things should be discouraged. Some of this card readers handlers were trained in a day or so.
It was revealed that one of the reasons for this high level of machine failure was because the veils on the slot for fingerprints were not removed before using it.
That happened due to short time frame for the training.
Backup should also be provided at standby for the card readers, so that the time frame for the election can still be met, even if their is a machine failure or malfunction.
More mock elections should also be encouraged. The world is now a digital world and Nigeria can't be different. Let us all support it.
The last election was adjudged to be one of the fairest elections Nigeria ever had after that of 1993 election that was claimed to have been won by late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO).
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) who was the standard bearer of Social Democratic Party (SDP) was said to have had majority of the lawful votes cast as against his opponent in NRC, Chief Tofa but the power that be then annulled the election due to its selfish reason and the bundle of this blame cannot but be traced to the then Head Of State, Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida (IBB).
The rest of what happened after the annulment of the said election is now history, but I'm using this medium to salute the innocent souls that went with the chaos that the ignoble unrest caused Nigeria.
May God console their respective families.
2015 General Elections was known to be the most competitive election in the history of Nigeria. The election came with a lot of intrigues and dirty politics from personal attacks to regional attacks.
The build up to the election was either to 'make or mar' Nigeria. Nigerians even thought at that time that the prophecy of the United States (US) will come into manisfetation, that Nigeria Will break up on or before her 100 years as a Nation.
We are all familiar with the marriage of inconviniency that Sir Lord Luggard did in 1914 that was known as Amalgamation. He brought Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate together as one.
It has been claimed in some quarters that Sir Lord Luggard's bringing Nigeria together as a country was experimental.
Though Nigeria as a country is divided along ethnic, religion and cultural beliefs, but it is still waxing strong.
Card readers made a larger percentage of Nigerians to have a bit of confidence in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and in the process.
International communities even gave kudos to INEC and Nigeria as a whole for the successful conduct of the general elections.
Though I don't posit that it was free and fair but was a clear achievement when compared to the previous ones. That majority was won not through ballots but guns.
Thanks to the election tribunals that upturned some of these elections.
May I quick to add that the role that the former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) played by throwing the towel was historic
and should be commended.
That singular act of his was unafrican and selfless, he deserves kudos, no wonder he was on the mission to supervise a general elections in Tanzania as international election observer.
Shortcoming of Card Readers
Nothing is too perfect without having one or two shortcomings, some of the difficulties faced during the use of the card readers are;(a) Failure in capturing of fingerprints: It was recorded that the card readers almost marred the elections in some areas but with swift responses of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials arrested the situation before getting out of hands and when the machine couldn't be replaced, such elections were postponed till the next day.
But the arrangement of manual accreditation was a succur to the machine failures. Manual accreditation was performed for those that the card readers couldn't capture their fingerprints.It implies that the accreditation were conducted for them manually, using forms instead of electronically with the use of card readers.
(b) Inadequate technical knowhow on the part of the handlers of the card reader machines: Fire Briggade approach to things should be discouraged. Some of this card readers handlers were trained in a day or so.
It was revealed that one of the reasons for this high level of machine failure was because the veils on the slot for fingerprints were not removed before using it.
That happened due to short time frame for the training.
Conclusion
Having analysed the contributions of card readers in the last general elections in Nigeria, it is my belief that the use of Card Readers In our elections has come to stay and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be encouraged by all and sundry so as to work on the loopholes recorded in the use of the card readers.Backup should also be provided at standby for the card readers, so that the time frame for the election can still be met, even if their is a machine failure or malfunction.
More mock elections should also be encouraged. The world is now a digital world and Nigeria can't be different. Let us all support it.
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