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Paul Orude, Bauchi
The Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has lamented that the card reader rejected his finger print when he came out to cast his vote in Saturday’s election.
Addressing journalists at Gwaramgah Primary School polling centre in his Gwallagah ward of Bogoro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Dogara observed that although the election process was smooth, malfunctioning card readers could frustrate the process across the country.
Dogara told journalists, “I think it’s fairly ok, judging by what I have seen here. It’s a bit smooth. But in a sense, you know I had a problem with the Card Reader; it couldn’t automatically authenticate me. So, I had to thumbprint on the Voters Register so to say, for me to vote. So, that is one of the flaws I have noted”
The speaker, who cast his vote at 9:45 am, noted further; “Even though the process of authentication is repeated twice, but somehow, the Card Reader couldn’t accept my finger print. So, I had to thumbprint on the voters register for me to vote. That is one of things I have noticed.
“But this is just one polling unit and perhaps hundreds of thousands across Nigeria. So, if what is transpiring here is what is happening across the Nigeria, I can say that, this meets the standard of a democratic election. But the problem looks to happen in some nooks and crannies of the federation. We know that the eye of the media will be here because of the speaker, so as you can see, it is fairly organised, better packaged. We hope that this is the situation across all the polling units in this country.
“I think it is very, very impressive; it’s early in the morning and I am sure before noon, you will see that the place will be fuller. That is because the citizens are now more educated, the choices before them is very clear”
