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Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday, expressed disappointment over what he called “persistent lack of preparedness” on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking to newsmen before he could not vote at his Umumasiaku polling unit, Amatutu, Agulu at 9a.m, Obi said it was a shame that the problem of card reader failure reoccurred in yesterday’s election after it marred the presidential and National Assembly elections. Obi, who eventually voted at 10:36a.m after the card reader was put in order, lamented that the card readers did not work in many places during the presidential election, noting that INEC acknowledged and promised to correct them.
He said: “It is a shame that the same problem repeated itself on grander 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.”
He 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.
“But 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, in Nigeria the story of rigging and sundry electoral malpractices are the order of the day as witnessed in the on-going voting.”
