Police minister okays card readers for 2015 polls

The Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan, has said there is nothing wrong with the use of electronic card readers for the forthcoming elections,

provided the intention behind it is not to disenfranchise some voters or to rig the election.

The minister said this in Osogbo on Thursday at the campaign rally to drum support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election and other candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in the coming elections. The campaign was attended by wife of Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo.

Adesiyan said there was nothing wrong in the introduction of technology into the electoral process in the country but stressed that it must be well intentioned and not aimed at giving some candidates undue advantage over others.

He said, ” It is good to have card readers for elections provided it is well intentioned.

“During the last year governorship election in Osun State, they cloned PVC from Lagos and used them here. But with the card readers such will be impossible.”

The minister urged voters with complain about the card reader on election day to ensure they collect incident forms from the INEC officials to enable them cast their votes.

He assured the electorate that none of them would be disenfranchised during the poll.

Adesiyan said asking the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress to provide his secondary school certificate did not amount to hate speech. He added that President Barack Obama of the United States was challenged to produce his birth certificate after he had won the US presidential poll and he did that.

He said after that the noise about his nationality died down and his critics apologized while asking Buhari to emulate Obama by doing the right thing.

The governorship candidate of the PDP in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, said everything about Buhari was fake while urging the people of the state to vote Jonathan and other candidates of the PDP in the coming elections.

The wife of Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo, appealed to the women in Osun State to vote for Jonathan and Sambo. She said that the PDP candidate would move the nation forward and would not discriminate against any segment of the nation.

She said, ” Women have never had it so good. Women are given key appointments under President Goodluck Jonathan. We have to support them to keep the good work going.

“This time around, it will no longer going to be 35 per cent representation for women, hopefully, it will increase to 50 per cent. So I am calling on all women in Osun State to come out on March 28 and vote to re-elect Jonathan.”

The vice President’s wife said contrary to the claims by the opposition party, the present administration of Jonathan had executed many projects in Osun State.

She listed the construction of Ilesa Dam, rehabilitation of Ilesa/Akure Expressway an dye revitalization of rail transport as some of what Jonathan had done in Osun State.