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| INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega |
• Says 20m permanent voters’ cards delivered
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, Tuesday in Abuja, said the
by-election in Oguta, Imo State, would have to wait until the safety of the
commission's members of staff was
guaranteed.
Speaking at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room Meeting
organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Jega explained that INEC had to declare the
election inclusive because the votes yet
to be cast could sway the result of the election.
He said unless those
participating in the election guaranteed the security of INEC's staff, the
election would remain inconclusive as the commission was not prepared to put
the lives of its workers in jeopardy.
He said: "There were polling units where election did
not take place due to violence. After tabulating the results, it was discovered
that a candidate scored 9,000 plus while
another had 7,000 plus. There are about 4,000 votes at polling units where
election has not taken place. That can sway the result.
"In the circumstance, the necessary thing to do is to
declare it as inconclusive. The election
is a very bad election because the politicians decided to make so.
"We will not conduct the election unless the safety of
our staff is guaranteed. When the atmosphere is right, we will go there and
conclude the election. We cannot subject the lives of our staff to jeopardy.
They must guarantee the safety of our staff."
Speaking on preparation for the next general election, Jega
said security remained a challenge.
He said lack of capacity to prosecute those arrested for
electoral offence encourages violence.
The INEC boss said the commission was overwhelmed by
electoral violence even as he said the commission lacked the capacity to
prosecute those who violated the electoral law.
He said: "We have prosecuted over 200 offenders. But
that is a drop in the ocean. But INEC
lacks the capacity to prosecute."
Jega called for the implementation of the Justice Mohammed
Uwais committee's recommendation that a special agency be created to prosecute
electoral offenders.
"We are overwhelmed by the enormity of cases that needed
to be prosecuted. But we are doing our best. But we need help. We have to rely
on police investigation while court is very slow," he said.
He called on the National Assembly to amend the Electoral
Act so as to correct the anomaly created by section 31.
The section required INEC to accept any candidate the
political parties sent to it whereas the Electoral Act also required parties to
conduct primaries to select candidates.
He said the commission did not have a choice but to accept
the candidates sent to it by parties even though those candidates might not
have emerged through primaries.
Jega said during the 2015 elections, voters would only be
able to vote at the polling units where they registered.
He said the commission did not have the infrastructure to
allow people to vote at anywhere they choose.
"You can only vote where you register. That is the law.
There are challenges with technological constraints. Like real time
internet. It is not possible to do
multiple voting," he added.
He also said the card reader to be deployed during the next
general election will have a voice.
He said: "If your voter card is verified, it will say
so and if not it will say not verified. We are borrowing this from Ghana. Anyone whose card was not verified should not
be allowed to vote. Party agents must support electoral staff to ensure
compliance."
He also said it was not true that directors in INEC were
skewed in favour of his geographical zone.
The INEC Chairman said the commission had complied with the
Federal Character Commission Act in the distribution of appointments.
He said the restructuring of the commission had been
concluded and that there were nine departments, 10 directorates and four
autonomous units.
The INEC chairman said one of the most significant
innovations introduced in the electoral process as the country moved towards
2015 was the permanent voters' card (PVC) that had a microchip with a bio data
of each voter and which would be read on
presentation to officials by Card Readers at each polling unit.
He said: "While each card has information unique only
to a specific voter, voters will be required to authenticate that information
by scanning their finger prints on the card readers. Thus, the PVC is easily
electronically verifiable using networked smart card readers that will be
deployed to each polling unit."
Jega said there were other benefits of the smart card
reader. They include equipment and material checklists, notification of when
accreditation starts, total number of people accredited at a polling unit and
vote collation.
He said: "Already 20 million permanent voters’ cards
have been delivered and the rest will be delivered according to a set agreement
by mid 2014. Since we recognize that distribution has always been a challenge,
we have taken appropriate steps to develop a distribution plan for the cards to
ensure tat registrants get their cards on time. With this arrangement quite a
number of irregularities and challenges noticed by observers and our own
officials during voting would be addressed."
On continuous voters’ registration exercise, the INEC chairman pointed out that "while
the commission had planned the continuous voter registration exercise to begin
in the first part of the second quarter of this year, certain logistic reasons
had prevented us from doing so. However, the planning and logistic arrangements
for the continuous voters’ registration exercise have been concluded and will
commence before the end of this quarter.
"It will begin with the display of the current voters
register in both print and electronic forms. Persons wishing to be added,
changed or moved will be required to fill a disclaimer form and will then be
issued with a queue ticket indicating
the time, date and bio-data on DDCs. The continuous voters’ registration will
take place at ward levels where two DDCs will be stationed with our officials.
One of the DDCs together with the printed register for that
ward will be used to check whether a prospective registrant is already on our
database, while the other will be used to register those that were not. Clear
guidelines will be issued shortly," he declared.
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