PDP rejects card readers

Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organ­isation (PDPPCO) has expressed the party’s reservations on the use of card readers in the forth­coming elections, saying the machine has not been tested in any election.

This was even as the party expressed satisfaction with the distribution of permanent vot­ers’ cards (PVCs) by the In­dependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the last two weeks.

Addressing newsmen yes­terday in Abuja, Director of Media and Publicity of PDP­PCO, Femi Fani-Kayode, not­ed that the electoral body was able to achieve the feat due to the shift in the initial dates fixed for the polls.

He said: “We are happy that many eligible voters are now going out to collect their PVCs. We know that the All progressives Congress (APC) and its leaders are not happy about this development be­cause they had wanted to rail­road themselves on the nation through a compromised and rigged election.

“How can they be happy when the advantage they obvi­ously enjoyed before the post­ponement of the February 14 presidential election has now been removed?”

Fani-Kayode, however, expressed the party’s reserva­tions about the card readers for the forthcoming elections.

The former Aviation Minis­ter premised the party’s posi­tion to an alleged plot by the APC to ensure that the card readers were effective in cer­tain parts of the country, while it would be made ineffective to frustrate accreditation of voters in some states.

The PDPPCO spokesman warned the main opposition party against the alleged plot as he declared that it would be resisted by PDP faithful.

Fani Kayode said: Fani Kayode said: “Our position on the card readers remains that the machine has not been tested in any election and there are bases for genuine concern over the use of the machine, for the first time, in a crucial election of this magnitude.

“We are aware of the plot by the APC, working in ca­hoots with some strategically placed and retrogressive ele­ments, to use the card read­ers to frustrate accreditation in some parts of the country while not enforcing strict use of the machines in some other parts.

“ The truth is that if they go ahead with that wicked plot, the APC and its collaborators will only be preparing the ground for mass resistance. They can be rest assured that we will not sit by idly and al­low such a thing to unfold.”