Jega: I can’t guarantee polls’ll hold on March 28

The Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, on
Wednesday, reiterated his preparedness to
conduct the general elections as scheduled but
maintained that only the military could guarantee
the sanctity of the March 28 and April 11 dates.
Jega, who appeared before the
Senate to explain the level of INEC’s preparedness
for the elections, however, stunned many of the
lawmakers when he revealed that one million
Permanent Voter Cards had yet to be received by
the commission from the manufacturers.
The Senators had thoroughly grilled him after he
made about three-hour presentation and
demonstrated how the card readers work.
Responding to a question by the Minority Leader,
Senator George Akume, to give a clear assurance
on the dates, Jega replied, “I think it is a very
difficult question to answer.
“I have said consistently that there are things
under the control of electoral commission and
there are things that are not under the control of
electoral commission. For things that are under
our control, I can give definite and categorical
assurances.
“On what is not under our control, it is futile, it is
fruitless and useless to give a definite guarantee
on them. I think that question should be directed
appropriately. The questions of security, I will
leave it, I don’t think I am competent to answer it
sufficiently.”
Asked how he would respond if the security
agencies requested a further delay, Jega said
doing so would be illegal.
He then made reference to a constitutional
provision that requires elections to be concluded
at least 30 days before May 29, when a new
government must be sworn in.
“Every Nigerian knows we want elections to hold…
within a constitutional time frame. The security
agencies are (made up of) patriotic Nigerians.
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,” he told
the senators.
He added, “We should be fair also to the military.
Soldiers are also patriotic Nigerians. I don’t see
how anybody will contemplate any extension
beyond these six weeks.
“There is no constitutional grounds upon which
you can do that. For us, we work by the
constitution, by the law . That is what is guiding
us and we should all put the interest of the nation
at heart.
“The human factor is always significant, it is
always important but we believe that working
together with security and other stakeholders, we
should be able to prevent negative human
intervention that can create problems.
“I kept saying consistently that INEC is not a
security organisation. We are an election
management body; so we rely a lot on security to
be able to ensure that things are done well and
that there is no disruption of the electoral
process.
“We have been working very closely with the inter
agencies consultative committee on election
security and that is why for us, if the service
chiefs say that we can’t guarantee security, give
us more time, what is the alternative security
arrangements ?
“If we consulted with the stakeholders and we
cannot find an answer, what happens? We are
going to use close to 700, 000 ad hoc staff. We
can’t send people to the field in that kind of a
situation.
“Our prayer is that in the next six weeks, there
will be significant improvement in the security
situation for us to hold the elections all over this
country in a very secure environment.
“There are certain questions that we are not really
competent to answer. Certain questions should be
directed to the military; they can answer them
better.”
The INEC boss expressed confidence in the
effectiveness of the card readers, stressing that
their use for accreditation during the elections
would not contravene any provision either in the
electoral act or in the constitution.
He also said that anyone who clones and tries to
prevent the use of the card readers would be
treated as a criminal.
Jega said, “We have done the functionality and
durability tests on the card readers with a local
partner, with their technical partner in Texas in the
United States. There were 13 specific tests that
were done about their functionality, durability and
versatility. The card readers passed all the tests.
“We have done some few tests and the result we
have is about 90 per cent successful. We feel
comfortable that the card readers can be used.
They will add value to the electoral process.
“It cannot be 100 per cent perfect. It may not be
able to read every finger and that is why we agree
with political parties. We bought 182, 000 card
readers. Some of them did not work.
“Of the total number of card readers that we
ordered and configured, only 503 had failed to
work. That is 0.03 per cent of the total. The
agreement is that if a card reader fails during
accreditation, then, we will try and repair it within
the time of accreditation which is between 8am
and 1pm.
“If a card reader fails around 10am , before 1pm,
we will do everything possible to replace it but if
we are unable to do so, the time lost will be
added to the accreditation period and extended.”
On the high rate of PVC collection in three states
under emergency rule in the North-East, Jega
wondered why Nigerians were heaping the blame
on INEC.
He said, “Why should anyone blame INEC for that?
There is a need for us to have clarity on this
matter. In Yobe State, only two local government
areas are under emergency rule and the state is
among the second phase in the distribution of the
PVCs.
“In the state and about 11 others, we distributed
cards as far back as July 2014. So if the rate of
collection is very high, I don’t see why that
should be seen as a problem. In Adamawa State,
only four LGAs are inaccessible and we deviced
a system where PVCs were distributed to
Internally Displaced Persons.
“So, as many as had been displaced but who had
registered have been able to collect their cards.
But when you look at the way newspapers do
their analysis, they tend to project it as if there is
regional slant in the distribution of the cards.
“When we designed the distribution of cards, we
did it in such a manner that we took two states
each from each geo – political zone to make a
phase and we did it in three phases just to avoid
being accused of having regional slant in the
distribution of the PVCs.
“It will be wrong to assume that Yobe State or
any other state has higher rate of collection. If
people come out to collect and others did not ,
why should INEC be blamed for that.
Jega, who said there was no case in court that
was capable of preventing INEC from holding the
elections as scheduled, added, ‘‘As I speak to
you, 800,000 to one million cards are yet to be
produced.’’
He however gave assurance that the PVCs would
be produced and delivered to their owners before
the days of the elections.
The INEC boss described the purchase of PVCs by
some people, especially politicians, as a criminal
offence .
He said, “If we have information on criminal
purchase or cloning of the cards, we will invite the
security to investigate. People can clone our
cards but if they are not issued by INEC, then they
would not be read by our own card readers.
“The PVC carries the information of the voter
which is in our database. We refrain from using
the card readers for voting because the
constitution is against it. We have cases where
corps members were forced to alter accreditation
figure but now if the number of the votes cast is
different from the number accredited, the entire
result of the polling units will be cancelled.
Jega said that if security would be guaranteed in
IDPs’ camps, INEC could make arrangements to
take care of them.
He said, “There is an online system where people
can find out details of their registration. Ghana
used card readers and it was relatively successful.
Likelihood of card reader’s failure is very remote.
“Its usage will not violate either the electoral act
or the constitution. There is difference between
voting and voting process. We are well advised
we are on solid legal standing on the issue.”
He added that INEC did not ask for card reader
usage in the Electoral Act because it was not
necessary since the existing law guarantees the
arrangement.
He said the PVCs would be permanent because it
could last for 10 years, adding that “by 2019 we
hope that the National Identity Card project would
have materialised so that INEC could draw out the
data of people of voter age from the NIMC
database.”
Jega added, “Whereas section 52 of the Electoral
Act prohibits the use of electronic voting, the
card reader is not a voting machine and it is not
used for voting, it is merely an electronic device
introduced to improve the integrity of the voting;
process.
“It should be remembered that sections 78 and
118 of the 1999 constitution grant INEC powers to
register voters and to conduct elections in
Nigeria. Using the card reader has enormous
advantages; first, once it is configured, it can only
read PVC issued by INEC at the polling unit that
it has been configured. Second, it reads the
embedded chip card not the back code.
“Third it enables authentication of the identity of
the voter by matching his or her fingerprint with
the code on the chip of the card. Four, it keeps a
tally of all cards read and all cards verified or
authenticated with all their details, including the
time when this was done.”
The demonstration of the card readers on the floor
of the Senate was commended by Senators
Bukola Saraki and Ita Enang, who said the
development had shown that INEC was fully
prepared for the polls.
Senate President, David Mark, in his closing
remarks said the Senate had confidence in the
ability of the electoral umpire to conduct free, fair
and credible elections.
He, however, urged the management of the
commission to feel free to contact the leadership
of the National Assembly for any assistance that
would make the elections a huge success.