Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna State Governor
Even though the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu had made it clear that electronic voting will not be used for 2019 election, the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has called for introduction of electronic voting.
It would be recalled that last week at The Platform Discuss led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, founder of Alder Consulting Nigeria, Mr. Leke Alder in his towering presentation, said “it would be very hard to believe that Nigeria is not yet matured for e-voting when more than 170 million votes came from Nigeria during the period of the latest Big Brother Naija (BBN) episode and a massive 30 million e-votes just on the final day to decide the winner”.
According to him, e-voting remains the best guarding security for elections as results are centrally tracked and monitored by every voter on his device, thus blinding the chances of rigging.
However, while arguing that the regime of electronic voting has become pertinent if Nigeria democracy must grow, weekend, the Governor El-Rufai revealed that his government has invested considerable fund in electronic voting because his party, the APC believes that votes must count.
He recalled that the introduction of the card reader for the 2015 elections helped to promote electoral integrity in Nigeria and pointed out that Kaduna is now taking it a step further to bring full electronic voting.
He said “As firm believers in democracy at the local level, we have invested considerable time in making our local governments fit for purpose”
El-Rufai, addressed supporters of the party at the flag-off of the APC’s campaign for the local government elections in the state at the Kaduna Township Stadium weekend.
The occasion had in attendance Chief John Oyegun, national chairman of the APC, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, and senior officials of the Kaduna APC.
