Reply #11: RED ALERT: Electronic voting, worse time bomb than third term agenda

[Wilms]

RED ALERT:Electronic voting, worse time bomb than third term agenda

By BASHIR UMAR, Abuja

Monday, December 5, 2005



Senator Omar Abubakar Hambagda (Borno South) has asked Nigerians to be wary of the proposed electronic voting system, being introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which he described as a "worse time bomb than the so-called third term bid."

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He said: "The electronic voting system is suggesting that counting will not take place at the point of voting, collection and collation will not be done at the ward level, will not be done at the local government level and that total votes for each unit will automatically appear on the computer centrally located at the INEC office."

In his view, "whoever owns INEC will be the winner, because it is what INEC announces that will be the results, and nobody can protest because in your ward or voting centre, party ‘A’ may be the most popular but party ‘B’ may be given the overall victory, so you will only begin to speculate that, perhaps other wards had voted for party ‘B’, with doubts and confusion taking charge."

The system provides no legal solace "So, whoever INEC announces as the winner, he remains the winner and you don’t have evidence to go and challenge him in court. I believe this is the most dangerous thing to the democracy of Nigeria and Nigerians continue chasing the shadow called third term, while leaving the real monster, thinking that it (electronic voting system) is insignificant.

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http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/abujareports/2005/dec/05/abujaroport-05-12-2005-003.htm