Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the just concluded presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi has expressed disappointment over what he called “persistent lack of preparedness” on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking to newsmen shortly after he could not vote at his Umumasiaku polling unit, Amatutu, Agulu at 9 am, Obi said it was a shame that the same story of card reader failure repeated in the election after it marred the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Obi who eventually voted at 10:36am after the card reader was put in order, lamented that the same card readers did not work in many places during the presidential election, which INEC acknowledged and promised to correct.
He said: “It is a shame that the same problem repeated itself on greater scale today, with news of faulty card readers all over the state. This has raised the issue of whether the problems are genuine or contrived for other purposes.”
Obi noted that banks use different types of cards including ATM cards with microchip processors and they work very well, wondering why INEC cards should not work.
On which party that would win, Obi said: “I am not so much interested in who wins the state Assembly election as it is family business. My position is that the best candidates should win in order to bring democratic dividend to the people of the state.”
Obi who sounded a bit worried, further said: “It is a shame that in this age and time, when other nations are talking about electronic voting and reducing electoral malpractices to the minimum, for Nigeria, as witnessed in the voting, the story of rigging and sundry electoral malpractices are the order of the day.”
He warned that if Nigeria does not get it right, it will remain a problem for the country now and in future.