Why Use Of Card Readers For Elections Should Continue, By Igini

Mike Igini, a lawyer, is a former INEC Commissioner in Cross River and Edo states. He recently spoke with some journalists on electoral issues emanating from recent court rulings on the outcome of the 2015 general elections and urged stakeholders in the polity, especially the Supreme Court, to advance the course of the use of the Card Reader in future elections. ONYEDIKA AGBEDO was there.

How would you comment on the outcome of last year’s elections and expectations in 2016?
Many thanks indeed and compliment of the season. Regarding defining issues, regarding our involvement with election management from 2011 up till the last general election of 2015, l would say that despite the apolcalytic projections either about the general election or about the country going under on account of some divisive issues, the successful transition of Nigeria from same-party democratic consolidation to opposition party democratic consolidation, which is not very common especially in our continent, is indicative of progress and we should congratulate ourselves as a people and a country.

You see, no matter how deeply wounded or triumphant we may be at any point, politically, this shows that we can take steps to make progress despite our challenges.

So, in your view, the election is a major milestone in the country’s history?

The 2015 election has shown that we can do it if all critical stakeholders agree to work together to consolidate a number of electoral tools that we have developed such as use of the Card Readers in the designed Election Management System with the key seven principal business areas.

For those who understand the whole essence of the embrace of democracy, elections or the selection of leadership only represents the minimum idea of democracy. The maximum or higher objective of democracy is development. But you cannot build a house if you have not made good plans and laid a solid foundation. The solid foundation for democratic development is in developing enduring institutions and credible electoral processes.

We have made some progress, but development is a continuous process; we cannot do everything at once. We must, therefore, prioritise institution building, because it should be top on the priorities of democratic nation building.
The outcome of last year’s election and the issues that arose therefrom are still the issues defining public discourse. Can Nigeria have petition-free electoral outcome like in the United States of America and other developed democracies?

Yes of course; we can have petition-free electoral outcome if the understanding by those who seek public offices is truly to service the common public good and not for self aggrandisement borne out of the mentality of what is now called “do or die” with its attendant disregard for human life by arming thugs to kill people in order to “win” election. Petition-free election should be the direction we should be heading as a people and a nation.

As I always say, a petition-free post-election period will be the ideal that election management should aspire to, just as it has been in the U.S. except for the year 2000 Florida saga and in the United Kingdom where for about 99 years all elections results were accepted from the polling units as announced up to the final point of declaration of a winner. That for us should be the “gold standard” but for our different contextual background, one that was characterised by many years of mismanaged elections and a lengthy period of minimalism and “structural capture” of the electoral laws. That background naturally breeds suspicion and lack of trust by the electorates and key stakeholders. Hence election results are subjected to much circumspection by tribunals adjudication, often spanning into years until the amendment of Section 285 of the Constitution that has now abridged the time to 180 days at tribunal level, Appeal Court 60 days and Supreme Court 60 days.

It is instructive to note that since the 2011 and the 2015 elections, the number of post-election petitions have dropped significantly. This should continue as free, fair and credible elections remain the condition-precedent for a sustainable democracy. If we keep on this path of progress, that indicator of good performance by INEC since 2011 will lead up to low or absence of post-election petitions in the foreseeable future.

You were a major promoter and advocate of the use of Card Reader in our elections. How has it impacted on the electoral process and what is your take on its use in future elections?

While I was one of the principal advocates, it must also be noted that everyone agreed that it had the capacity to improve the integrity of elections in Nigeria. The Commission had the support of the government and made huge investment into the Card Reader project and it should be consolidated. As expected, whenever there is an innovation of any form, there will be legitimate fears and concerns over the impact. But it is a tool and an electoral solution for one of the key challenges of our electoral process, the challenge of a credible voter register.

Incidentally, some who resisted card readers only expressed concerns that it should not be used deliberately against their political interest, which of course it is not meant to do. Its purpose is to add value to the electoral process by limiting the outcome to the choice of voters who present themselves to vote. Beyond a few places where obviously the card readers were by-passed as evidenced by the kind of figures shown as indicated in our reports of the 2015 election, if we examine critically the credible margin of election results, figures from recent elections and the more recent ones in Kogi and Bayelsa, from those declared, showing a reasonable and realistic reflection of voter turn-out, which are, credible, dignified figures, we can say hopefully today that the era of invidious moon-slide and landslide bogus election results are fast becoming a thing of the past in this country. This is what the introduction of card reader has brought to our electoral system and we should acknowledge that the card reader has brought a tremendous resurgence of hope and fidelity unequaled in our quest to give meaning and purpose to the voters register. There must be a relationship, traceable link between the card readers recorded number of accreditation and the ticked numbers on the register of voters.

Election is about voters selecting those they want to lead them, and a credible voters register helps to ensure that those who vote are the true eligible voters. The card reader, which authenticates the voter identity, helps to make the voter register more robust and resistant to moonlight and landslide bogus figures. Therefore, anyone who wants the progress of this country and who supports credible election results should not go against credible voter authentication, which is the work of the card reader.