The truth is that INEC has made voting more easy by saying that a voter can either Thumbprint or use any finger to print his/her choice political party column on the ballot paper.
The argument being advanced for this allowance to use any finger to vote is that THERE ARE PERSONS WITH DISABILITY” (PWD) who may not even have a Thumb or even an index finger. Such people can print the ballot paper using any finger. The vote is still valid.
INEC also identifies PWDs who have zero finger – that is, no finger at all! These people are Nigerians with equal rights of franchise. Therefore, INEC allows that such zero-finger registered voters were registered with BIODATA and Not BIOMETRICS. As such, they have to be identified or certified using their Biodata as captured on the SCR (Serial Card Reader).
After the zero-finger or blind PWDs have been certified by the POs using the Card Reader, such special voters are allowed to bring a trusted person to help them fingerprint the ballot paper.
With the super systems of electoral procedure adopted by the INEC for this 2019 elections, it will be difficult for anyone to rig the elections. No. Not even INEC officials, political party reps, thugs, or the security personnel headed by the Police.
Therefore, we should not allow hate rumour and lies to subvert our confidence in the INEC preparedness, readiness and pursuit of fairplay, equity and justice in the 2019 general elections…
Prof. Nelson O. Fashina
University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
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