By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says only less than one per cent of the card readers deployed for the conduct of Ondo State governorship election malfunctioned.
INEC Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Nick Dazang, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Dazang said that only 11 out of the over 3,000 card readers deployed for Saturday’s election malfunctioned.
“The election is generally peaceful. We were able to open at all the polling units, even in places that have challenges of terrain including Ilaje.
“The election was peaceful, courtesy of the security agencies; even though we had some smart card reader’s failure, they were only 11, not up to one per cent of the total number deployed.
“The percentage is infinitesimal,’’ he said.
Dazang said that though there were few cases where the card readers malfunctioned, the commission acted immediately to resolve the problem.
According to him, the card reader at the polling unit where the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, voted failed and it was replaced immediately.
He also pledged that the collation process would be done in a transparent manner.
Dazang also dismissed the insinuation that the election results would be manipulated, saying INEC had already put in place measures to check this.
The measures, according to him, include early commencement of the collation process and thorough monitoring of the process.
“The results collation right from the ward level to the local government and state level are being monitored by stakeholders, including journalists, observers and political party agents among others.
“It is not possible for anybody to manipulate election results with the way we have articulated the process.
“People and stakeholders who are there were also given the copies of the results as they are collated; they can use that against what is finally declared.
“The times when election results are being manipulated are over. It is not possible again because you can now trail the process,’’ he said.
He called on all stakeholders to continue to support INEC to conclude the election peacefully.
