Reports trickled in yesterday that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accused Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello of double registration in the ongoing voter registration which it commenced on April 27, 2017.
But there are pertinent questions that are begging for answers on this absurdity called accusation by the electoral body. How can double registration be possible if INEC has properly automated the process? Before blaming Governor Yahaya Bello for registering to vote – his constitutionally guaranteed civic right- let’s consider such lousy excuse that he registered in 2011. That was 6 years ago. How was he to know that INEC still kept such data in an age when the commission is notorious for not keeping record. Many have been known to search for their names in vain on INEC registers. No doubt, the governor would have thought that the present registration by the commission was a fresh process and if he was not briefed properly that the ongoing registration was an update of old records, how would he have known?
I am one of the first leaders of government in the public sector to deploy full fingerprint system to register thousands of people in this country and our system known as ePASS was configured in such a way that double registration was impossible. President Obasanjo commissioned this in 2006. Pastor Tunde Oke, Olúmáyòwá Ònò-olápò Àjùmòbí Dammy Wetals Aremu Opeyemi Kujero Femi-Daniels Aidamenbor Opeyemi Obembe Akinniranye Ayoola Emmanuel John Oluwasina etc were on that team.
There were many reasons why civil servants in Ondo State between 2005 and 2006 might want to register twice or thrice and not all had criminal intentions. Most of the time, many lost their registration tokens and wanted to ensure they remained on the database (our actual intention). However, ePASS was configured to throw up a flag – “Sorry, this person already exist on the database” even if that person used a different name (in the case of those with criminal intent).
But Yahaya Bello of Kogi used his names and duly re-registered through INEC officials. How do you establish criminal intent against such a person in such circumstance?
Had INEC actually properly computerized its system, as we are made to believe after spending hundreds of billions in what has become the most expensive ICT project in Africa, the system would have thrown up a prompt “sorry, this person already exist on the database”. In that case, the INEC official would have proceeded to edit or update Yahaya Bello’s profile rather than an entirely new registration.
The average person must compare and ask: can anyone register twice and obtain two BVN numbers in Nigeria in 2017? Can anyone register twice on the National Identity Management System (NIMS)? Let’s call a spade what it is, INEC system is sub-standard and a poor example of what proper automation should be and so I submit.
– Tunji Light Ariyomo, pioneer coordinator of the Ondo State Information Technology Development Centre (SITDEC).
