The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said it will prosecute any officers found to have failed to use the Smart Card Readers to ascertain the eligibility or otherwise of voters to cast their votes at Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections.
A commissioner in the commission and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, issued this threat at a press briefing on Saturday to keep Nigerians up to speed with the ongoing elections.
Okoye noted that there were challenges that bedevilled the use of card readers in a number of places adding that the encumbrances have been removed.
He however, warned that dire consequences awaited INEC officers who failed to use the electronic machine saying: “It was made clear that the use of the smart card readers is mandatory. Therefore any official of the commission who deliberately refused to use the smart card reader would be prosecuted.
“The challenges of smart card readers have been resolved. But where they are not resolved before the closing of elections, the polls will continue the next day.”
