…says 137,000 card readers have arrived

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—THE Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Edo State, Mr Mike Igini, has said that with the introduction of card readers ahead of the February general elections, the Commission has gone digital while politicians were still at the analogue stage in their thinking.

He explained that contrary to the belief that the commission may not be able to provide the card readers, a total of 137,000 of the card readers had arrived the country, adding that with the introduction of the card readers, it will now be impossible for anybody to use another person’s Permanent Voters Card, PVC, to vote on the day of election.

Igini said: “A number of people think that the card reader will not come. That is why they are still instigating people to snatch Permanent Voters Cards, thinking that they will use the old ways to deal with the new approach that we have developed. So, this is the card reader, the battery will last for about 14 hours.

“Once you come with your PVC, your face and everything about you will show on it, it will authenticate whether the face corresponds with the person that has the thump print. There is a speaker in it that will announce that everything about you is okay before you are given a ballot paper. As a matter of fact, at the end of the day, we can print a new register with this.

“So, you can see that it is useless for anybody to be in possession of the PVC of another person. But when we were in the old regime when INEC was using paper, it was possible without photo for politicians to pack all of them and thumb print. We have moved beyond that era. So, we have gone digital, while the political class are at the analogue stage in their thinking. That is what must have informed some of the unwholesome practices,” he stated.