The use of card readers for the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will be blocked, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has maintained.
Speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, stressed that the party was rejecting the card readers because they have not been tested before in an election in Nigeria.
He claimed that there are plots by the country’s main opposition party, All Progressives Congress, APC, to take advantage of any frustration that may arise from the use of the electronic device on the election days.
“Our position remains that the machine has not been tested in any election and there are basis for joining concerns over the use of the for the first time in a crucial election of this magnitude.
“We are aware of plots by the APC to use the card readers to frustrate accreditation in some part of the country while not enforcing strict use of the machine in other parts,” Fani-Kayode told journalists.
INEC has expressed confidence on the use of the machines to reduce electoral frauds in the polls. The Commission’s National Director in charge of Information and Voter Education, Chris Iyimoga, had explained that INEC would conduct a field testing of the card readers.
