Why card readers didn't work

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said the card readers deployed for Saturday March 28 elections failed because commission’s officials failed to remove the protective film on the lens of the equipment.

While speaking on a Television programme in Abuja on Sunday March 29, Kayode Idowu, the spokesman to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, admitted that reports that the devices may have failed to function as a result of the non-removal of the protective film on the face of the lens of the card reader may have been true.

"We (INEC) received reports that some of the card readers may have failed to function, because officials that handled the devices may have failed to remove the protective film covering on the face of lens,” he said.

He said the film may have blocked the lens of the card reader, making it difficult for it to read the biometric data in the permanent voters cards for scanning.

Idowu admitted that the flaws recorded in the electoral process were more than the card readers malfunctioning, noting the Commission has taken note of the challenges and assured it would ensure the election exercise is more credible and acceptable in subsequent elections.

Many people across the country were unable to be accredited or late accreditation in some cases in the Saturday March 28 elections, because the INEC card readers failed to read their biometric data. Some were forced to be accredited manually, including President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, who voted at their Unit 13 polling station in Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

This forced INEC to extend voting to today March 29, to enable those who could not vote on Saturday perform their civic duties on Sunday.