JEGA ON THE MUD

THE DIRECTOR- General,Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, PDPPCO, Dr. Ahmadu Ali

Has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to allow the electorate, who participated in the 2011 elections, use their temporary voters’ cards in case they could not get their permanent voters cards.

REASONS FOR  TVCs  by Ali
In his statement he said that the  need to allow voters use TVCs cannot be over emphasised, the commission was introducing a new methodology in the entire process which wasn't used to Nigerians.

He said INEC was not prepared for the election, adding that the problems were monumental and would have made the commission fail monumentally.

He said yesterday that the PDP and its Presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, were querying the INEC for the manipulations in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, with Borno State having more than Lagos State.

He said: “We are querying the INEC for some aberration in the distribution of PVCs. How can Borno State which is under siege register more PVC collections than Lagos State? The INEC might have allowed its distribution of these cards to be tampered with.

In his address to Journalists in Abuja, Ali, who noted that the shift in the dates of the general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 had saved the INEC from monumental embarrassment, asked the electoral umpire to explain the rational behind insurgency-ravaged Borno State registering more PVC collections than Lagos State that is peaceful and more populous.

“We hope that INEC will now use the extra time it has given itself to perfect its methodology. For example, the card readers need to be tried and tested during training of its operators.

“I gave an interview over two weeks ago and I said the problem we are facing is monumental and INEC may fail monumentally. My suggestion was that if you have your TVC they should allow you to use your TVC. If you voted in 2011 and you have the old voters’ card they should allow you to use it because this is the first time they are introducing this methodology and we have not mastered it.”

Blames INEC for poor voters education.

He said: “In terms of voters education, INEC should be blamed. There is none of you here that has seen the card reader demonstrated publicly. That is where the problem lies. If you the elite who are covering the election have not seen where they trained their personnel and show you how this thing is going to operate, how do we and other Nigerians know how it is going to operate?

“This is what they should have tried out at local government level in one of the states and know what the problems are. By the way, the battery life of the card reader works for only eight hours. In remote parts where there is no light, by the time people line up, you accredit them and the eight hours is over and people are still on the queue that means you will disenfranchise them.
“These are things that he Prof. Jega should have tried out but because they have introduced it and we don’t want to prevent progress, they should have mastered it. You and I still don’t know how it is going to work.”

INEC IS NOT PARED FOR THE ELECTIONS
“From all indications, INEC is not fully prepared for the elections. There are issues with the PVCs. Almost 30 million people are yet to get their PVCs despite the fact that the date of distribution was extended. Will it be possible to have a credible election when millions of Nigerians are disenfranchised because of lack of permanent voter’s cards?
“There are also reports that the PVC readers are not fully distributed and tested. How can INEC handle cases of faulty card readers? Do they have a credible Plan B in situations where voters are lined up and the card readers refuse to work?
“Ballot boxes are reportedly inadequate, training of staff for the election had not been concluded and there are other problems facing INEC. Quite clearly the shift in election date is meant to save INEC from monumental embarrassment. I would like to reiterate that the PDP is ready for the election any day.”

On the issue if security, Ali said: “Soldiers were mobilized for the election in Edo, Osun and Ekiti states and these elections were adjudged as free and fair by local and foreign observers.
“With the general election, more military personnel are needed to be on ground to forestall any breakdown of law and order as well as prevent political miscreants from tarnishing the electoral process.
“Nigeria in conjunction with sub-regional forces have recorded a tremendous success in the fight against Boko Haram in the recent well-coordinated repel attacks from all flanks around North-East bloc of the country.
“This joint effort started about two weeks ago and has gathered momentum, therefore, aborting this process because officers are needed to monitor the elections would be counter-productive and could be more deadly for the nation, as it may reverse the gains we have made so far.

APC ALSO WANT THE USE OF  TVCs
On the other hannd, the APC, yesterday, approached the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, praying to be joined as a co-defendant in a suit seeking for an order compelling the INEC to make use of both the permanent and temporary voters cards for the polls.