BILL to amend 2010 Electoral Act to legally adopt the
electronic card reader as an electoral tool in the conduct of elections in
Nigeria has passed the second reading in the Senate on Thursday.
The bill titled, “A Bill for an Act To Amend the Electoral
Act No.6 2010 and for Other Matters Connected Therewith 2016”, was sponsored by
Senator Tijani Kaura (Zamfara State) stating that the outcome of the system
during the previous elections attested to the inevitable adoption of it in
Nigeria elections noting that it reduced all forms of election malpractices.
Above all, he stated that the recent rulings of the Supreme Court which did not
recognize the card reader as a legal electoral instrument have indicated that
the needful must expediently be done adding that the card reader is
incontrovertibly a noble initiative of the electoral body.
“The card reader is indeed a novel innovation by the
independent National Electoral Commission. The card reader has been in use in
many countries even before Nigeria adopted it for the 2015 general elections.
It has been in use in countries such as Ghana, South Africa,
Kenya, and many other African countries and most importantly, it has prevented
electoral fraud. Thus, we must boost the confidence of our citizens in the
system”, he said.
Whilst the Deputy-Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu called for
a comprehensive consideration of the Act to address other pressing issues
including the electronic voting and INEC compliance to the 90 days rulings for
a rerun, Senator Foster Ogala (Bayelsa-West) opposed the bill to adopt card
reader stating that the innovation is foreign.
Similarly, Senator Albert Akpan
(Akwa Ibom -North-East) criticized the bill at the moment arguing that some
imperfections in the system should be first addressed.
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