INEC doesn’t rig elections if people want their votes to count –Ayilara, Oyo Resident Electoral Commissioner

In this interview, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Oyo State, Alhaji Nasir Ayilara, exonerates the electoral umpire of any under-hand dealing as regards election result, saying the people should be blamed for election rigging. He also explains reasons many registered voters may not get their permanent voters cards (PVC) for the forthcoming election.

AKEEB ALARAPE and OLUSEYE OJO bring the excerpts:

Where do things stand now, concerning preparations for the 2015 general elections aftermath of the voters registration?

In Oyo State, we have concluded the second leg of the distribution of voters’ cards. It took place from Friday, October 24, to Sunday, October 26 of this year.  The second leg of continuous voters registration also started on Wednesday, October 29, where we were unable to touch in the last exercise. It ended Monday, November 3, 2014.
The first leg of the distribution of voters cards took place between Friday, August 15 and Sunday, August 17, 2014 in the state. Also, the first leg of the registration exercise took place from Wednesday, 20th to Monday, 25th of the same month.

How will you respond to the cries, especially from some VIPs within the political circles that they have not got their permanent voters’ cards?

We don’t really identify with any VIP or elite. We believe everybody has equal right when it comes to voters’ cards. It is mandatory for us to give cards to all eligible voters to be able to participate in the 2015 elections.

In the last exercise, it was true some were unable to have their cards because not all the cards were produced. But the outing was very successful. At least, we were able to record 70 per cent of the total cards that supposed to come into Oyo State. But we had the full complement of the cards during the second leg. We distributed the cards in the affected areas where we were unable to touch during the last exercise.

The distribution was done in the affected areas, not at the local government where people used to collect the cards after the initial three days of distribution. Since we did not distribute in those units, we had to do it in units so that the people will have the opportunity to access their cards within a very short distance to their homes.

The continuous voter registration in the same affected areas started on October 29 and last for six days. The exercise is not state-wide.

Are you saying the gate is shut against those who have not registered where you believed you have concluded registration?

Yes, the gate is shot against them. They cannot go to where their polling unit is to register because we do not even have our machines there again. So, we will only do registration in the affected areas, where we did not conduct this exercise in the last outing.

What about some local government areas that INEC said the voter registration in those areas has been cancelled and it has to do fresh registration?

The affected local governments are Egbeda and Afijio and we had done that. The other places where we have not done, we will be able to do it in the on-going registration exercise. By and large, the major places have been covered. We have 669 units to cover in the whole state and these units cut across 19 local governments.

In 2011, there was an issue of disappearance of INEC DCC machines and that the case later became subject of litigation. Do you have instances of such incident this time around or a case of your staff conniving with outside forces to tamper with the machines?

We don’t have such a case this time around. All our machines are intact. As they were deployed, they were equally returned in very good condition. Our data are very intact. The only incident we have was in Oriire Local Government, where one of the guys within the community seized the opportunity of a female corps member, manhandled her and picked about 12 cards and took the bags in which the lady kept the cards away. But the police came to our aid. He was arrested and within some hours, he returned the cards.

Is there a mechanism for INEC to detect somebody who registered, let’s say in Osun State and also registered in Oyo State?

The next election is a general election. Even if Osun will not have governorship election, they will be having other elections like the Senate, House of Representatives and state assembly. So, the cards in

Osun will still be very useful. This does not mean people cannot play on the commission’s rule by wanting to leave Osun for Ibadan. There is no way that can be detected.

The only way to know is if that person has not collected the permanent voter card. If that person has collected permanent voter car, we can detect that the card has been collected in Osun. So, there is no way you can come to Oyo State to get another one.

The commission is on the verge of saying anyone that lost his or her permanent voter card must pay some amount of money before he or she can be given another one. If there is a financial attraction to it, people may drop that idea and stick to where they have their cards.

Is there a way for the commission to detect somebody who is a registered voter in Osun and come to vote again in Oyo State during the next general elections?

During the election, we are going to use card reader. The card reader is customized and serialized for the unit. Even within Oyo State, you cannot pick a card from one unit and use it in another unit, other than the original unit for that very card. If you slot the card into the card reader, it will tell whether the card is a valid card for that unit or not.

Apart from the challenge at Oriire Local Government, what are the other challenges the commission is facing in the state?

There is no other challenge than breaking down of our machines. We are still using the old machines that we used in 2011 for registration. You have to agree with me that if you buy a laptop in 2011 and you have been using it up to 2014, you should expect a kind of malfunctioning in the machine.

Definitely, we have a lot of malfunctioning machines during the exercise. But in each of the unit, we configured two machines. If one is faulty, the other one will be useful. Where the two are faulty, we would deploy more from the office to those places.

What are the mechanisms that the commission has put in place to detect multiple registrations by eligible voters?

In the voter register we used in 2011, it was discovered that many people did double registrations. It might be for their selfish interest and it might also be the fault of INEC. It might be the fault of INEC in the sense that most of the scanners that we used then did not work very well at the initial stage in 2011.

Then, many of the people that did not have their full fingers captured by the scanner were asked to go back and re-register. So, this might inform why people have two or three names in the register, aside from those that willingly registered more than once in many places.

Having known that, software, known as Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) was run on the entire register. The AFIS detected the multiple registrants and their names were expunged from the register. This is why we don’t have the full register that we used in 2011 now because the AFIS has taken out many names.

What we have now is post-AFIS register. This informed why many people did not have their names and cards in the recent distribution of permanent voter cards. They have to do another registration in order to have their names back in the register.

After this registration exercise too, the AFIS will be run on the data collected from the new registrants. So, if you have registered twice, definitely, it will knock the two names out of the register. Where that happens, it will deny that individual the opportunity of voting in 2015.

In fact, the voter registration we did in August, we have run AFIS on the names. Also, the on-going exercise, immediately it is concluded, will still undergo the same process so that all those double registrants will be taken out of the register.

Most towns are expanding on daily basis and some satellite towns have been developed beyond having one or two polling units, what are the steps your commission is taking to create more polling units in those areas?

That is what prompted the commission to create additional 30,000 polling units. It is also to reduce the amount of time each voter use at the polling units to cast his or her vote. Some polling units will have more than 1,000 voters.

There is a notion that rigging has become technologically-based unlike when people used to snatch ballot boxes and even double cross INEC officials and doctor results. How true is this sir?

Well, I don’t know what they meant by saying rigging is being done technologically. What we knew in those days is what you have just highlighted, such as snatching of ballot papers and ballot boxes, kidnapping of electoral officers or coercing electoral officers to do what they did not want to do, either monetarily or other ways.

But this time around, since we are going technological, the cards are electronically-produced and there are card readers that will be used. In Osun governorship election, we did not use card reader but it was still a very perfect election. The use of these permanent cards really helped the situation because there was no way you can just bring any card, other than the cards produced by INEC. Though we don’t have a verification machine, at least we have a register.

During the distribution of cards, the commission officials will emphasize that you cannot collect the card in proxy; you can only be there to have your cards collected. We have a register for each of the voter card collectors. It is either one signs or thumbprints to make sure that the card is being collected by the owners.

Since we know the number of cards produced and the number of cards collected, definitely we know the number of those who are expected to come out to vote because cards not collected cannot be used to vote. So, we have the number; the expected voters are already known. So, anything above that should be known.

If we have 100 cards at a polling unit and only 70 people collected their cards, definitely, we don’t expect more than 70 to come and cast their votes at the unit. Where we now have 72, then something has happened. Even out of those 70 people that collected their cards, the whole 70 may not even come around to cast their votes.
So, it is logical. There is nothing too technological about it. It is just a way to make sure that the whole process is free and fair and fraud-free. So, there is nothing like technological way of rigging election

At the early stage of the incumbent administration in Oyo State, there was a court ruling that additional seats should be created at the state House of Assembly to make 40 seats, how far have you gone about this?

The case is still in court. It is now in the Court of Appeal. The lower court said INEC should create but the INEC has taken the case to the appeal court. Since the case is still in court, whatever we say now will be sub-judicial.

Have there been pressures on you from politicians within the state as regard the forthcoming elections?
I have been in this business for a very long time. But everybody has its own integrity to protect. Definitely, all those requests will come; it is now left for that individual to know what is good for him; what is good for the family and the community he represents. For the country, one has to be patriotic enough to do the right thing at the right time.

From your previous experience, what is the problem with conduct of elections in the country?

The problem of our previous election could be said to be environmental. What determines a good election depends on the needs of the people. If people are ready to have a credible election, they will really have a credible election. When we are talking of rigging, there is no way INEC can rig election. INEC does not rig.

Let us say in a polling unit, we have 600 registered voters that are ready to cast their votes. The INEC officials that you will meet there will be either two or three with one policeman. So, if the 600 voters determine that this is what they want to do, what power do four people have over the 600 people that decided what they wanted to do. This is what has been happening in those days.

But now, people are ready to have a very good election. They want to have a leader of their choice. They believe that what they were doing in the past was completely wrong and that is why they are having it so bad. People are now determined.

Even, those that did not have political interest in those days now have it.

In the past, it would be only on the day of election that you will see people coming out with backlog of newspapers they have not read, instead of them to participate in the election. But people are now ready to leave every other thing for that day so that they can participate and have a very good election in their area.

Are you assuring the people of Oyo State of free, fair and acceptable election in 2015?

Already, the people are ready to have free and fair election. So, who are we not to give them a free hand to have a leader of their choice?

How can a person who registered in one part of the state or the country but have relocated to another place participate in the 2015 general elections?

They can do transfer of registration and within 30 days, they can have their cards produced if they do it in good time. But if they don’t do it in good time, there is no way one can have that in good time

According to the electoral act, within 60 days to the election, all registration exercise must come to an end.

So, it depends on that individual. Right now, we are doing the transfer from one unit to the other, one local government to the other, one state to another.