The Director-General of the Jimi Agbaje Campaign Organisation, Ramon Owokoniran, has expressed doubts in the reliability of INEC’s card readers for the April 11 governorship and State Assembly polls.
Mr Owokoniran was speaking in reaction to INEC’s insistence on the use of the card reader technology for the verification of voters during the election on Saturday with the promise that all issues faced during the presidential and National Assembly elections would have been solved.
“We hope that that will happen but the last time, it didn’t.
“I am sure we have more than 35 to 40% of cases in Lagos where the card readers did not work. Worst of it is that even in such circumstance, the voters’ list was not even available to check those people that were coming to vote.
“They were just writing on pieces of paper. There was nothing to check,” he said.
While he admitted that this was not the case in all polling units in Lagos, he stated that this was an indication that there had been little or no improvement from the conduct of the elections in the past, contrary to promises made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the 2015 polls.
“They promised us that we can depend on the card reader. They promised us that the voters’ list would be available, they promised us that there was going to be transparency.”
He mentioned Oshodi, Kosofe, Agege among the areas where voters experienced the card reader hitches in Lagos. He also complained about the late arrival of INEC officials in some polling units.
Owokoniran, however, said that his party remained focused and ready for the governorship election in Lagos.
“We are moving in top gear, especially having faced the 28th of March election and seeing what happened. With the experience from that, we are tidying up and ensuring that all the loopholes are being blocked,” he said.
Mr Owokoniran was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily.
