15 parties join PDP to oppose card readers

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday got the support of 15 political parties to oppose the use of card readers for the forthcoming general elections. The 15 political parties and five presidential candidates at a press briefing in Abuja asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to jettison the idea or face boycott of the elections.

They also demanded that he should proceed on terminal leave to allow another person conduct the polls. They spoke on the same day the PDP restated its concern about the planned use of card readers for the general elections. Director, Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, at a press conference yesterday in Abuja, said the party’s position on the card readers was that the machine had not been tested in any election and it would be an unnecessary risk to use for the first time in crucial general elections.

Fani-Kayode also alleged a plot to use the card readers to frustrate accreditation in some parts of the country while not enforcing strict use of the machines in some other parts. He accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) as being part of the plot and warned it against any bid to rig the general elections. “The truth is that if they go ahead with that wicked plot, the APC and its collaborators will only be preparing the ground for mass resistance. They can be rest assured that we will not sit by idly and allow such a thing to unfold,” he added.

He accused the APC and its leaders of creating scenarios and possibilities that will feed into their agenda to cause chaos and violence before, during and after the forthcoming elections, and said that was why they were against the use of soldiers. “This is why we insist on the deployment of soldiers in the forthcoming elections as it was done in the gubernatorial elections in Edo and Osun where APC won, in Ondo where Labour Party won, in Anambra where the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won and in Ekiti where the PDP won,” he stated. According to him, PDP has always insisted that the INEC has the constitutional duty to conduct free and fair elections and has never interfered with the commission’s preparations.

He denied that PDP was strategising to shift the election dates and trying to frame up Jega. Also addressing reporters in Abuja, the 15 parties said using card readers for the elections could vitiate the conduct of credible, free and fair elections on March 28 and April 11. The spokesperson of the political parties and National Chairman, Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Dr Onwubuya A. Breakforth, stated that the first drawback was that this device was relatively a new technology that had not been tested before in Nigeria.

“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 readers for the March 28 and April 11 general elections or we may consider boycotting them,” he stated. According to him, delaying the introduction of the card readers will enable the nation and INEC to properly ascertain its workability and efficiency for general elections.

He added that the consequences of the use of card readers are most likely to lead to manipulation, massive rigging of the elections and disenfranchising voters. “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 voters’ disenfranchisement.

“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,” Breakforth said.