INEC kicks as radio presenter brandishes card reader

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Wednesday said it will investigate how a radio presenter Ordinary Ahmad Isa, got a card reader he displayed on his show.

Earlier on Wednesday, Isa on his weekly reality radio talk show, Brekete Family on Human Rights FM, Abuja, brought out a purported INEC card reader.

“So if I be bad person or politician now, na to program how many votes PDP go get, how many vote APC go get, how many votes APGA go get,” Isa said brandishing the card reader in the presence of an INEC official.

The radio presenter failed to disclose how he got the card reader when he was being asked by the official.

However, while reacting to this, INEC said it “will be investigated to ascertain whether what was shown was indeed an INEC Smart Card Reader, we wish to assure the public that mere possession does not in itself give the card reader or its operator access to our systems and processes.”

“All card readers to be deployed in elections are to be specifically configured and have certain unique attributes or credentials which must be known and recognised by our systems,” INEC added.

“It will NOT be able to receive or transmit data or communicate with the PVCs or our Servers.”

The INEC card reader is a portable electronic voting authentication device configured to read only the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) issued by the electoral body

The card reader was designed specifically for the accreditation process, authentication of eligible voters before voting.

According to INEC the machine was configured to read only the PVCs of a particular polling unit and can only work on election day.