Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday, admonished the Independent National Electoral Commission to review the whole concept of the card reader before the 2019 general elections.
He made the call on Saturday after his accreditation at Otazi, Playground, Polling Unit 039, Ward 13, Otuoke, Ogbia LGA.
Just as it happened during the Presidential Elections, Jonathan and his wife’s first attempt at accreditation at about 8:45a.m, was unsuccessful on account of malfunctioning card readers.
When answering a question on his impression of the situation, Jonathan said “I advise that before the 2019 election, the whole concept of card reader and the technology must be reviewed.”
The former president quipped: “I’m quite worried about the card reader issue this morning. Luckily, this is an isolated, one-state election. But from my experiences today, INEC must review this issue of PVC and card readers very well before we go into the next election.”
He added that: “In the last presidential elections, myself and my wife’s PVCs were rejected by the card reader. Today, because they changed mine and that of my wife’s, it was successful.
“Five people came with me including a former commissioner known to me in the state. The card reader rejected three others’. They could not have been carrying a clone cards,” he noted.
The former president, who looked calm as ever, admonished Bayelsans to be calm and see politics as a duty to bring about change in the society.
He averred that a transparent and credible election are hallmarks of democracy, adding that when elections are not peaceful, they cannot be said to be credible.
According to him, the votes of the citizens must count, reiterating that “all my people from Bayelsa State should ensure that we conduct a peaceful and credible election.”
He said come what might, whoever emerged governor after the voting exercise should govern the state well.
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