National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) yesterday, described the inability of the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) to accredit President Goodluck Jonathan as well as Governors Jonah Jang of Plateau, James Ngilari of Adamawa and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi, among others, during the presidential and National Assembly polls, as a huge national embarrassment.

The party called on the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to give Nigerians explanation.

In a statement by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party noted that the poor working of the SCRs during the elections across the country would have been avoided if INEC had listened to “sound advice from well-meaning individuals and organizations including the PDP regarding their deployment without proper testing”.

Metuh, who noted that the resort to manual accreditation by INEC hours into the exercise against its earlier guidelines clearly showed the failure of the system, said, “The unfortunate development is a vindication of our earlier position that as good as the idea of card readers is, it was too virgin to be successfully used in a general election without proper testing especially in an environment as ours that is not entirely digitally proficient.”

The PDP equally frowned at reported cases of accreditation of under-aged persons in some states especially in the northern part of the country and called on INEC not only to ensure that such unqualified persons are not allowed to vote but also to prosecute its officials involved in the crime.

•Adapted from Vanguard. Photo shows Jega.

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