Ahead of Saturday’s Governorship elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that any state that refused to use card readers would have the results of the affected area cancelled.
Igbere TV reports that INEC said the non use of the smart card readers contravenes the Electoral Act, insisting that the smart card readers were integral part of the electoral process and therefore mandatory for it to be used during the election.
INEC Chairman, Yakubu
Igbere TV gathered that Resident Electoral Commissioner in Niger State, Professor Sam Egwu, gave the warning in Minna on Tuesday after inspecting materials for next Saturday’s elections.
The INEC warning is sequel to complaints by local government returning officers for the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, that the presiding officers were forced to drop card readers machines for manual voting in no fewer than 10 out of the 25 local government areas of the state.
According to Egwu, the commission discovered that in some parts of the state during the presidential and National Assembly elections, voters refused to use the smart card readers under the guise that the machines failed to function.
“I am aware we had challenges with the card readers in some areas; there was popular pressure to abandon the smart card readers; let me warn that failure to use the card readers the consequences will be very grave
“We will put zero for any polling unit where the card readers are not used,” Professor Egwu declared.
He also said that there was no link between the networks of the telecommunications service providers and smart card readers, insisting that card readers operate independently of telephone networks.
Professor Egwu disclosed that the commission was ready for the conduct of the governorship and House of Assembly elections, saying that it had received all the sensitive materials.
“All the sensitive materials are here in Niger State; we have scrutinised them, we have batched them local government by local government; we don’t have any shortage.”
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