According to sources at the meeting, held behind closed doors, expressed fears that the machine could fail in the middle of the exercise and cause problems, leading to litigation against the commission.The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has rejected the solar-powered electronic voting machine made by the National Agency of Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), after the INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud, according to sources at the meeting, held behind closed doors, expressed fears that the machine could fail in the middle of the exercise and cause problems, leading to litigation against the commission.
The machine which was formally presented to INEC National Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mamoud, by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, and his team, led by the Director General of NASENI, Dr. Mohammed Haruna, at INEC headquarters in Abuja yesterday was said to be able to accommodate five elections at once and produce results within minutes.
According to the source, who witnessed the presentation, revealed on condition of anonymity to Vanguard that INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mamoud, and top officials of the commission were visibly surprised that NASENI could produce such novel technology but felt that INEC might not be ready to adopt it for the next general election. The source said that in an indirect move to out rightly reject the machine and appease the Science and Technology Minister, Mahmoud opted to raise a technical committee to further brainstorm on the workability of the voting machine. The technical committee is expected to submit its report on July 29 this year.
Angered by Mamoud’s decision, the Minister of Science and Technology challenged INEC to adopt the machine and deploy it for 2019 general elections, having tested and confirmed it to be efficient enough to meet INEC’s standard and requirements.
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