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Demands Linking of Voters Register with NIN
- Safiu Kehinde
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has called for the overhaul of procedures of appointing new Chairman and Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as the electoral processes.
Aregbesola made the call during a panel discussion at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday.
The former Osun State Governor faulted the President’s nomination of a new INEC chairman as he suggested the handling of the nomination process to political parties with at least five members in the National Assembly.
“The issues involved in Nigerian elections are not as simple as we are putting them.
“From the appointment of the chief electoral officer, that is the Chairman of INEC, to all the Commissioners and all the issues involved, we pretend as if we don’t know.
“We know they don’t even inspire confidence. So, we must start from there. We must start from how do we appoint these people who superintend this process in the first instance.
“I will outrightly that we must review that to inspire confidence. Let parties with at least five members in the National Assembly nominate people that will be at the helm of affairs in INEC on equal basis. It’s as simple as that. It solves all the issues.
“A situation where the principal beneficiary of manipulation nominates who chairs INEC has sincerely dictated what will happen.
“There is no issue about that. We will be grandstanding in deceit. Technology is as good as the person behind the technology. AI as powerful as it is, is as good as the person manipulating the process.” He said.
While admitting to be a beneficiary of what he described as shenanigans-conducted election, Aregbesola maintained that handling the affairs of the electoral body to one individual is unacceptable.
“I am a beneficiary of shenanigans in elections and struggle. But I’m telling you clearly that if we did not change the process of who manages what in the electoral body to at least downplay a single person dictating the tune and managing the affairs, we are joking with it.” He said.
The ex-Osun governor thereafter compelled INEC to make public the technical know-how of the technology it intend to use for elections.
He also called for simultaneous upload of vote count as used in Brazil, India, and Venezuela, noting that much resources has been deployed into the electoral body that can make such innovation happen.
“We must compel INEC to do a public presentation of the technology it wants to use. Let us have an idea of what you want to do. Don’t tell us you are using BVAS, Bi-Modal, only for the election day, you change the entire thing.
“Let INEC demonstrate to Nigerians how it is going to conduct the election.
“How come in India, Brazil, and Venezuela where as you are voting, the tally is being done and we are seeing it?
“How come we cannot do so in Nigeria? It’s about the system. We have committed so much resources to technology in INEC that that is possible.
“Let’s demand that from INEC- simultaneous display of election as it is being done.
“The paperwork is just for parties to have record of what is happening.” Aregbesola said.
The ADC National Secretary further raised concern over party agents and observers who he claimed to often get excluded from electoral process.
He held that party agents should be able to monitor electoral processes closely including confirming the identity of voters.
He also called for the linking of the voters’ register with the National Identification Number (NIN) to tackle the issue of multiple registrations.
“Agents of parties and observers are usually excluded from election. Agent of parties should monitor closely the processes of election to accreditation. They must not be given a wild bat on election day to just be looking from afar.
“They should be able to determine whether the person holding the card is the actual person on the card.
“Let us compel INEC to link his voters registration procedure with NIN. That will eliminate bloated registers and multiple registrations. It doesn’t speak well for Nigeria that we register 83 million voters and get less than 20 million votes.” He added.