The House of Representatives has approved the use of smart card readers for election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The House also barred INEC from using other device in the electoral process.
On Sunday, more details of the amendments to the Electoral Act passed by the House of Representatives emerged.
The restriction was placed in the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill 2020 passed on Friday.
Prominent among the amended clauses is Section 49(3), which reads,
“Where a smart card reader or any other technological device deployed for accreditation of voters fails to function in any unit and a fresh card reader or technological device is not deployed, the election in that unit shall be cancelled and another election shall be scheduled within 24 hours. If the commission is satisfied that the result of the election in that polling unit will substantially affect the final result of the whole election and declaration of a winner in the constituency concerned.”
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House, on Thursday, prayed the House to remove “or any other technological device” from the clause at the sitting.
Gbajabiamila said, “The question then remains, what do you mean by ‘any other technological device?’ Do we want to make sure that our Act is watertight and devoid of any kind of manipulation? That word (phrase) is too ambiguous. It could mean anything; it could mean your phone – your smartphone, it could mean a pen or any device.”
The Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, who led the Committee of the Whole to consider the clauses, said,
“Other technological devices could come in other forms. Smartphones may not be the only form. Your computer is not a smart phone. So, you could apply a computer, that is why the word ‘any other technological device.”
Wase, therefore, put the amendment proposed by the Speaker to voice vote and it was unanimously adopted.
