TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled March 14 for a repeat of the public demonstration of the smart card readers (SCRs) in Ebonyi state.

Kayode Idowu, spokesman of the commission, made the disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said INEC arrived at the decision when the electoral body met on March 9 to review the public demonstration of SCRs across 12 states on Saturday.

“The commission took a serious view of the high rate of SCRs’ failure to authenticate voters’ fingerprints in some areas, particularly in Ebonyi state,” he said in a statement.

“It has decided to thoroughly investigate the cause and repeat the public demonstration in that state.

“This demonstration will be conducted in the particular registration area involved in the last exercise, namely Izzi Unuhu (Abakaliki local government area); as well as in Ibii/Oziza registration area (Afikpo North LGA.”

Idowu added that by deploying the card readers, INEC intends to achieve some objectives, which include verifying permanent voter cards (PVCs) presented by voters at polling units to ensure originality and to biometrically authenticate the holder of the PVC.

“From the reports on last Saturday’s demonstration, these objectives were achieved 100 per cent,” he said.

He added that 59 per cent of voters who turned out for the demonstration had their fingerprints successfully authenticated.

Idowu said the SCR was meant to provide disaggregated data of accredited voters in male/female and elderly/youth categories.

“A disaggregation that is vital for research and planning purposes, but which INEC until now had been unable to achieve,” he said.

The states where Saturday’s exercise were conducted include Rivers, Delta, Kano, Kebbi, Anambra, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Lagos, Bauchi, Taraba, Niger and Nasarawa.