As part of preparations for the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be conducting field tests on the functionality of the smartcard readers (CRs) to be deployed for the accreditation of voters on election day.
According to the commission’s Decision Extract issued recently and signed by its Director, Commission’s Secretariat, Ishiaku A. Gali, the field tests would take place in two states of each of the six geopolitical zones of the federation, and would take place simultaneously on Saturday, March 7, 2015.
The states selected for the exercise are: Ekiti and Lagos in the South-West; Anambra and Ebonyi in the South-East; Delta and Rivers in the South-South; Kano and Kebbi in the North-West; Bauchi and Taraba in the northeast; and Niger and Nasarawa in the North-Central zones.
According to INEC, the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of the selected states would be charged with the tasks of selecting registration areas with the full complement of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) and with an appreciable distribution of such PVCs for undertaking the field test.
Also, they are to ensure that the register of voters in respect of all polling units in the selected registration areas is printed for the conduct of the exercise.
INEC further directed its national commissioners to supervise the conduct of the exercise in their zones, adding that RECs who are not selected for the exercise should observe the conduct of the exercise in their zones in conjunction with the national commissioners, so as to enable them carry out engagements with key stakeholders at the state level, and in particular, stakeholders in the selected registration areas where the exercise would be conducted to ensure massive participation by registered voters.
Providing further clarification, the commission’s Director, Voter Education, Mr. Oluwole Uzzi, yesterday stated that the demonstration of the pilot scheme in two states in each of the six geopolitical zones is aimed at explaining to the people what the card reader technology is all about.
Their deployment, he said, would drastically nullify all irregularities in the voting process.
In a related development, a Federal High Court in Abuja has refused an application brought by four registered political parties – United Democratic Party (UDP), Action Alliance (AA), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) – seeking to restrain INEC from using the electronic card readers in the conduct of the polls.
The political parties are challenging the powers of the electoral body to introduce a process not specifically provided for in the statutes as it prepares to conduct the polls.
The suit was filed by Alex Iziyon (SAN), BolajiAyorinde (SAN), Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN) and Adekunle Oyesanya (SAN) on behalf of the four political parties.
Arguing the ex parte application, Iziyon told the court that the proposed use of the card readers was contrary to the provisions of the Constitution as well as the Electoral Act.
Iziyon told the court that the National Assembly had legislated on the Electoral Act to govern the conduct of elections in Nigeria, and that the “head is the Electoral Act while INEC is the body”, contending that the body could not be more important than the head.
Consequently, the court declined to make any interim order against the electoral body on the proposed use of the electronic card readers.
However, it abridged the time for INEC to file its response to four days after receiving court papers on the matter.
Hearing on the substantive motion on notice was thereafter adjourned to Tuesday, March 10.
The parties are among the 16 parties that supported the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in objecting to the conduct of the elections as earlier scheduled.
They also have adopted President Goodluck Jonathan (the presidential candidate of the PDP) as their candidate.
They based their prayers on the grounds that the use of card reader machine for the forthcoming elections was not in conformity with the Electoral Act and that their members across the country who have been enlightened on the accreditation procedure as contained in the Electoral Act would be disenfranchised as they were not educated on the use of card readers.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed support for the presence of the military in the forthcoming elections, saying it would give the electorate confidence to come out and vote.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ondo State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, stated this in Akure, the Ondo State capital, at a town hall meeting with stakeholders on non-violent electoral participation.
On the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs), the commissioner said all were not yet ready, saying while some PVCs were still being awaited from the INEC headquarters, others were yet to be collected by their owners.
He disclosed that the collaborative efforts of the civil society organisations (CSOs) have assisted the commission, especially in the area of knowledge sharing workshops, voters and civic education, among others.

Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr Sam Woka (right) and General Manager, Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, Mr Celestine Ogolo in a tete-a-tete, during the Permsec’s meeting with staff at the corporation’s premises in Port Harcourt on Monday