Earlier in the day, it was reported that the card reader failed to authenticate the finger print of the President’s wife in Otuoke, the home town of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan. Click here if you missed it!
Several others also reported challenges in some polling units across the country, where the card readers failed to read the finger prints of voters, causing delay in the process that was supposed to last for at most five hours. Hence, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to adjust the guidelines for the elections to address some of the challenges being faced during the accreditation process.
INEC however recently announced that due to a number of these reported challenges being faced at some polling stations, the voting procedure will be extended till tomorrow, Sunday March 29, 2015, and some centers will have to resort to using the manual accreditation process.
Check out some of INEC’s tweets on the accreditation process below:
#BREAKING 1) INEC has been monitoring field reports on the accreditation process since commencement this morning
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 2) Whereas the process has gone well in several places, in some others it has encountered some challenges esp the card readers
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 3) Consequently, accreditation has been slow in many places and has not commenced at all in some others #Nigeriadecides
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 4)Even though the guidelines for the 2015 general elections provide that where card readers fail to work and cannot be replaced..
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 5) ..Elections in such PUs will be postponed to the next day.
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 6) The scale of the challenge we have observed has necessitated a reconsideration of the provision of the guidelines
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 7)The Comm has therefore decided that in PUs where card readers fail to work, the Presiding Officer shall manually accredit voters
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 8) The Presiding Officer shall mark the voters register upon being satisfied that the person presenting a PVC is the owner
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 9) Notwithstanding, in PUs where accreditation was suspended to the next day in accordance with the guidelines.. Cont’d
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 10) Cont’d.. arrangements will be made for voters to vote tomorrow, subject to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
#BREAKING 11) The Comm reassures the public that it will thoroughly investigate what happened while it stays committed to credible elections
— INEC Alert (@INECAlert) March 28, 2015
