THE IMPACT OF BIOMETRIC CARD READER ON THE OUTCOME OF 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA
BY
EKEMBA CHIBUZOR PG/M.SC/16/81563
A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE (M.Sc.) IN POLITICAL SCIENCE (ELECTORAL STUDIES)
SUPERVISOR
PROF A.M.N. OKOLIE
SEPTEMBER, 2018.
i
TITLE PAGE
THE IMPACT OF BIOMETRIC CARD READER ON THE OUTCOME OF 2015
GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA
i
CERTIFICATION
We, the undersigned,hereby certify and approve this study as adequate in scope and quality, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Science degree (M.sc.) in Political Science (Electoral Studies).
By
______Prof. A.M.N Okolie Dr. Ifeanyi .M.Abada
Project Supervisor Head of Department Date: 3/9/2018 Date: 3/9/2018
______Prof. Leonard .I. Ugwu External Examiner Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Date: ______Date: 3/9/2018
ii
DEDICATION
This study is dedicated to God Almighty for His Infinite Mercies in my life without him am nothing and can do nothing, and also to my Parents Chief and Mrs. Mba Eke Mba for their relentless assistance toward accomplishingthe study.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the successful completion of this study, I am eternally indebted to a number of people whose inputs and support were indispensable to me. First among these is my
Supervisor, Prof. Aloysius MichaelsOkolie whose encouragement, incisive comments and fatherly guidance helped to clarify doubts and sharpen my focus. Others are the distinguished academics in the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria Nsukka whose tutelage greatly broadened my intellectual horizon. They include: Prof. Aloysius
MichaelsOkolie, Prof. Emmanuel Ezeani, Prof. JonahOnuoha, Dr. H.N Agbo, Dr. E.J.
Nwagu, Dr. V.C Onah, Dr. J.G Ezirim, Dr. H.C.Edeh, Dr. Ifeanyi.M. Abada, not forgetting
ChikodiriNwangwu whose inputs guided my research work others includeDrs R.C. Adibe, K.
Obi, K.O. Nwachukwu, Mssrs P.C. Chukwu, S.N. Asogwa, DrNnamdiEgonu, Dr.Okorie
Albert, Mr Paul Onu, Dr (Mrs) A.O. Ononogbu, Mrs J.O.R. Uju, Mssrs. Peter Atime,
AkpanItoro, UcheOranye, Uche Godfrey, Dr, NdubuisiIsaac and Christopher Obianagwa.
Indeed your advice contributed immensely in seeing me through all these hard hurdles.
Finally, I will like to thank the following persons whose advice and financial support went a long way in seeing me through the programme: chief & Mrs.Mba Eke Mba,
Pharm. AjuluMba, EngrkanayoMba, EkembaChikwado, EkembaChikamso,
EkembaChinonye, EkembaChieloka, MbaUgochukwu,AjuluMba Junior and C. Ezeora.I appreciate all my course mates especially Nnaji Vincent, UdayaChinonso and my lodge matesC.MNwosu, EzinneAgwufor their contributions toward accomplishing the study.
EkembaChibuzor Department of Political Science UNN August, 2018
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page ------i
Certification------ii
Dedication ------iii
Acknowledgements------iv
Table of Contents------v-vii
List of Tables ------viii-ix
Abbreviations ------x-xiv
Abstract ------xv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study------1-5
1.2. Statement of the Problem------5-8
1.3. Objectives of the Study------8
1.4. Significance of the Study ------8-9
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2:1 Biometric card reader and the electoral process------11-24
2:2 The biometric card reader and electoral outcome ------24-33
CHAPTER THREE:RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Methodology------34
3.2. Theoretical Framework------34
3.3. Application of theory ------
35-39
3.4. Hypotheses ------39
3.5. Research Design------39-42
3.6. Methods of Data Collection ------42
v
3.7. Methods of Data Analysis------42
3.7. Logical Data Framework------43-48
CHAPTER FOUR: INTRODUCTION OF BIOMETRICS IN ELECTION
4:1.How biometric technologies work ------49-55
4.2. Introduction of biometric card reader in election------56-57
4.3. Biometric Voting Machines and the acceptance by Stakeholders------57-63
4.4. Global use of biometrics in elections------63-64
4:5. Uses of Biometrics in African------64-67
4:6. Key steps in introducing biometric card reader------67-73
CHAPTER FIVE: BIOMETRIC CARD READER IN NIGERIAN ELECTIONS
5:1 Card Reading Machine and 2015 General Elections ------74-77
5:2The impact of Biometric Card Reader on The Outcome Of 2015 General Elections in
Nigeria------77-82
5:3Technologies and the Credibility of 2015 General Elections in Nigeria ------83-87
5:4Direct Data Capturing Machine in Nigeria Election ------87-91
5:5The Way Forward For Biometric Card Reader in Future Election------91-93
5:6The strength and challenges of introducing technology ------93-94
CHAPTER SIX BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION AND ELECTORAL OUTCOME
6:1 INEC Introduction of Technologies in Nigeria Election from 2011-2015 ------95-99
6:2Voter Authentication as a tool for Election Credibility------99-101
6:3 Biometric Authentications as a tool for Election Credibility------101
6:2:1 Theuse of biometric voter registration (BVR) in the 2015 elections ------101-103
6:2:2Biometric authentication methods and how they work ------103-104
6:3Immediate and remote causes of Jonathan’s defeat in 2015 general election -104-111
6:4Biometric Capturing and Reduction in Electoral Malpractices and violence-111-122
vi
6:5APC’s Victory: The Challenges Ahead ------122-123
6:62015 Presidential Election Outcome ------123-125
CHAPTER SEVEN:SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1. Summary ------126-127
7.2. Conclusion ------127-128
7.3. Recommendations ------128-129
Bibliography ------130-140
Reference ------
vii
LIST OF TABLES
Diagram1: Features of smart card reader ------49
Figure1: Use of biometric data at polling stations ------50
Figure2: Biometrics Process ------50
Figure3: Biometric based system ------51
Figure4: Electorates, Observes and Officials ------51
Figure5: Verification of Voters ------52
Figure6: Rejection of Voters Repetition ------52
Diagram2: Permant Voters Card and Smart Card Reader ------56
Figure7: Voter turnout from the 36 States of the federation during the 2015 presidential and
NASS elections ------60
Table1: 2015 Presidential and National Assembly election ------64
Diagram3: Types of biometric ------70
Diagram4: Retina Scanning ------70
Diagram5: Iris ------73
Diagram6: Finger tip ------71
Diagram7: Fingerprint Matching Mechanism ------71
Diagram8: Automatic Face recognition system ------72
Diagram9: Hand/Palm-Print and Features ------72
Diagram10: Signature Scanning ------72
Diagram11: Biometric Market report ------73
Diagram12-13: INEC official explaining the voting process to voters on Election Day and
APOU hands vertically folded ballot paper to the voters ------76
Table2: Distribution of Smart Card Readers Nationwide------79-80
Diagram14: Biometric technology in elections in sub-Sahara African ------82
viii
Diagram15: Direct Data Capturing Machine currently used for voters registration ------88
Diagram16: Permant voter’s carder ------89
Diagram17: Biometric Card Reader and Charger ------90
Figure8: Set up for Accreditation in stand-Alone PO1 ------99
Table3: Summary of Presidential Election Result------105-106
Table4: State Where Public Demonstration OF Smart Card Readers Was Conducted Before the 2015 General Election ------106
Table5: Components of the IVAS ------107
Diagram18: Voter Verification ------108
Diagram19-24: Description of the Icons on the voter verification window ------109-110
ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
A Accreditation
AA Action Alliance
ACPN Allied Congress Party of Nigeria
AD Alliance for Democracy
AG Action Group
APC All Progress Congress
APGA All Progressive Grand Alliance
APOs Assistant Preceding Officers
APP All Peoples Party
AU African Union
AFIS Automated Fingerprints Identification System
BCR Biometric Card Reader
BE By-Election
BP Ballot box
BP Ballot paper
CBN Central Bank of Nigeria
CC Collation Centre
CDD Centre for Democracy
CE Constituency Election
CLC Check-list Clusters
COs Collation Officers
CR Card Reader
CSOs Civil Society Organizations
CSS Collation Support Secretariat
x
CVR Continuous Voters’ Registration
DDCM Direct Data Capture Machines
DPNC Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroon
ECESS European Centre for Election Support
EMBs Election Management Bodies
EMS Election Management System
ENT Engineering Network Team
EOs Electoral Officers
EOSC Electoral Operations Support Centres
EPP Election Project Plan
ERC Electoral Reform Committee
ERM Election Risk Management
ES & S Election systems & software
EU European Union
EU EOM European Union Election Observation Mission
E-voting Electronic Voting
EVR Electronic Voter Register
EVS Electronic voting system
FCT Federal Capital Territory
FEDECO Federal Electoral Commission
GE General Elections
GNPP Great Nigeria Peoples Party
GSM Global System for Mobile
I.V.A.S INEC Voters Identification System
IAAs Independent Administrative Agencies
xi
ICCES Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security
ICT Information and communication Technology
INEC Independent National Electoral Commission
IRI International Republican Institute
LGA Local Government Area
LGCO Local Government Collation Officer
MBB Mobile Ballot Box
NAN News Agency of Nigeria
NAP National Advance Party
NCNC National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons
NDI National Democratic Institute
NEPU Northern Elements Progressive Union
NNA Nigerian National Alliance
NNDP Nigerian National Democratic Party
NPC Northern Peoples’ Congress
NPN National Party of Nigeria
NPP Nigerian Peoples Party
NURTW National Union of Road Transport Workers
NYSC National Youth Service Corp
OMR Optical Magnetic Recognition
OMR Optical Mark Recognition
P Poll
PA Party Agent
PA Polling Agent
PDP People’s Democratic Party
xii
PEB Personal Electronic Ballot
PIN Personal Identity Number
PU Polling Unit
PO Presiding Officer
PRP Peoples Redemption Party
PVCs Permanent Voters Card
R A Registration Areas
RACs Registration Area Centres
RB Rejected Ballot
REC Registration Electoral Commission
REMOBS Re-modified Open Ballot System
RO Returning Officer
ROF Run-off Election
RV Register of Voters
SBP Spoiled Ballot Paper
SCC State Collation Centre
SCOPE State Collation Officer for Presidential Election
SCR Smart Card Readers
SPO Supervisory Presiding Officers
TA Technical Adviser
TB Tendered ballot
TMG Transition Monitoring Group
TVC Temporary Voter Cards
TVL Tendered Vote List
UMBC United Middle Belt Congress
xiii
UNIP United National Independence Party
UPN Unity Party of Nigeria
UPP United Progress Party
VIN Voter Identification Number
VPs Voting Points
VRE Voters Registration Exercise
VVPAT Vote verifiable paper audit trails
xiv
ABSTRACT
Biometric technology which is used in many different ways is adjusted and selected to best fit a country’s needs and existing infrastructural development. This study provided the analysis of the impact of biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general elections in Nigeria. Two objectives were stated to explain whether the use of Biometric Card Reader enhanced the credibility of 2015 General Elections in Nigeria or whether the Voter and Biometric Authentication contribute to the victory of the APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, while two hypotheses was formulated. We used cybernetics model of communications as a theory for explaining the role biometric card reader played in the 2015 general election in Nigeria. Data used in this study was secondary data and data collected indicated that the technology had contributed to the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.The finding of the study showed that the technology introduced in the 2015 general electionscontributed to the success of the electoral outcome which both International and local observers accepted. Among other things, the study found that the use of Biometric Card Reader enhanced the credibility of 2015 general election. Based on the research study for INEC to have a quality election in Nigeria’s electoral process, INEC should change their organizational structure to get the electoral processes right. This study recommends that the Commission should embrace and integrate electronic voting system in future elections in Nigeria. We also recommend that INEC should amend some of their Electoral laws to ensure low level of electoral violence and malpractices in future Elections in Nigeria.
Keywords: Election, Biometric Card Reader, Card Reader, INEC, Electoral Commissions, Electoral Management Body.
xv
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the study
Over the decades, developing countries especially Nigeria has turned towards electronic politics (Gelb &Diofasi, 2016). One response has been to turn to technology to register voters and sometimes to authenticate them at the polling units in a bid to improve the integrity of the electoral system (Gelb &Diofasi, 2016).
The 1959 elections, which ushered the country into independence in 1960 was supervised by an electoral commission headed by R.E. Wraith. The main political parties at that time were the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), which was the dominant party in the
Northern region, Action Group (AG), which was dominant in the Western region and the
National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC), which was dominant in Eastern region.
Other parties were Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroon (DPNC), Northern
Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC), Borno Youth
Movement (BYM) and the United National Independence Party, UNIP, (Moveh, undated).
The 1964 general election was the first nation-wide elections organized by the postcolonial
Nigerian state. It was largely a contest between two main political alliances – the Nigerian
National Alliance (NNA) and the United Progressive Grand Alliance. There were several allegations of agencies of regional government conniving with the electoral officers to prevent opposition candidates from complying with the nomination process. However in the
North voting went ahead, the only evidence of boycott being in two northern progressive fronts strongholds: the Kano and Jos Sabon – Gari‘s (Kurfi, 2005, Sklar, 2004).
The 1979 election was supervised by the military regime of GeneralObasanjo. Five political parties registered and they are National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the Great Nigeria Peoples
Party (GNPP), the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and the
1
Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). The activities and conduct of the election was handled by
Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO. Though AlhajiShehuShagari of the NPN was declared the winner, the outcome of the election was strongly disputed by the other parties, especially the UPN which felt it was a deliberate ploy by the military regime, FEDECO and the judiciary to enthrone the NPN in power (Falola&Ihonvbere, 1985).
In 1983, six political parties contested the election. Controversies surrounding the elections helped to provide the legitimacy crisis which the military capitalized upon to seize power and truncate the Second Republic.
Prior to the conduct of the 1991/1993 elections, Babangida, who toppled MuhammaduBuhari in 1985, set up what it called a political bureau to articulate public opinions and advise it accordingly on measures to take to return the country to civilian rule. The Babangida transition program created two political parties and foisted them on the political elites referring to the political elites as equal founders and equal joiners of the political parties. The two parties were the Social Democratic Party, which had MoshoodAbiola as its presidential candidate and the National Republican Convention which had Alhaji Bashir Tofa as its flag bearer.
The government wanted to sanitize the processes by funding the parties and even influencing the appointment of its leadership. Despite these, it still had to cancel the election, regarded by local and International communities as the fairest and freest, the country has organized since
1960 (Agbese, 2012). These innovations however were not enough to guarantee the success of the elections as it was insufficient to forestall the annulment of the election (Kurfi, 2005).
Following the death of General SaniAbacha in June 1998, General AbdulsalamiAbubakar became the military head of state. He announced a transition program, with a final handover of power to civilians slated for 29 May 1999. Three political parties, the Alliance for
Democracy (AD), All Peoples Party (APP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were
2
registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the elections into legislative and executive positions. The APP and AD contested the presidential elections on a joint ticket choosing OluFalae of the AD and pairing him with UmaruShinkafi of APP as his running mate while the PDP sponsored OlusegunObasanjo with AtikuAbubakar as vice presidential running mate. Although there were hitches and complaints, the elections were generally described as free and fair in line with the trend in the country’s transitions from military to civilian regimes (Ihonvbere, 1999).
The 2003 general elections was the first civilian-to-civilian transition since 1999, this election was condemned by both local and international observers. The Transition Monitoring Group
(TMG) for instance held that presidential and gubernatorial elections in some states fell short of international and regional standards and did not reflect the voting pattern of the Nigerian people (TMG, 2003).
If the 2003 elections were condemned for falling below international standards, those of 2007 were described as the worst in the history of elections in Nigeria.
According to Human Rights Watch:
The polls marked a dramatic step backwards, even when measured against
the dismal standard set by the 2003 election. Electoral officials alongside
the very government agencies charged with ensuring the credibility of the
polls were accused of reducing the elections to a violent and fraud ridden
farce (Human Rights Watch: Oct 11, 2007, P13).
Having admitted that the elections that brought him to power were less than perfect, the
Yar‘Adua administration set up an Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) as soon as he came to power in 2007 to examine the entire electoral process and recommend ways of reforming and improving the electoral process.
3
Though the 2011 presidential elections were regarded as an improvement over the 2007, it was also not without problems with some questioning whether it was seen as free and fair because of the low bar of expectations set by Professor Maurice Iwu in 2007 (Adibe, 2015).
Nonetheless, the outcome of the elections was challenged by Obasanjo main rival General
MuhammaduBuhari who insisted INEC conspired with the ruling PDP to rig him out
(TheNation,2011).
The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor AttahiruJega, on
Wednesday March 26, 2015 when addressing the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in
Abuja, said:
He has no regrets for insisting on deploying Smart Card Reader machines
for the conduct of the 2015 general election as the device will ensure
transparent and credible elections. Jega, who stated this, maintained that it
is only those that hitherto nurtured plans to fraudulently manipulate the
outcome of the elections, which have been crying foul over the
introduction of the technology which he said, would only add credibility
to the electoral process in the country. He said that INEC had perfected all
its strategies and put every apparatus in place with a view to ensuring a
hitch free poll that will reflect the summative choice of Nigerians.
Likewise, all the security agencies, especially the police which have a
leading role to play in terms of providing security during elections, have
assured us that they are ready. He assured that there will be remarkable
reduction in the delays that were previously experienced in the
commencement of elections, as well as retrieval of materials at the end of
election.
4
Nevertheless, the INEC boss said we can see the dust that the introduction of card readers raised. So we decided to keep piloting and improving on the system beyond 2015, hopefully, by 2019, the commission will introduce e-voting in the election.
Moreover, on 7 March 2015, INEC went to the field to test-run the reliability of the
Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) ahead of the elections.
The trial took place in 225 out of the total 120,000 polling units and 358 out of the 155,000 voting centres that were to be used for the elections (Thisday, 2015). While there were some hiccups, the exercise was generally considered a good outing across 12 states in the six geopolitical regions of the country.
As brevity stated by the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman,
KayodeIdowu, using the Biometric Card Readers has enormous merits, that include the fact that once configured, the Biometric Card Reader can only read Permanent Voter
Cards(PVCs) issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Information transmitted to the server will enable INEC to audit results from polling units, as well as do a range of statistical analysis of the demographics of voting. Further, Collation officers will also be able to use information transmitted by the Card Reader to audit polling unit result sheets and determine whether accreditation figures have been altered (Idowu, 2015).
The more general use of biometric in African elections is on the rise. No fewer than
25 sub-Saharan African countries (e.g. Sierra-Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Somaliland, Mali, Togo, Ghana etc.) have already held elections employing a biometric voter register (Piccolino, 2015). It is against this background that an electronic technologically based device, the smart card reader was introduced into the
Nigerian electoral process in 2015 to help improve and deepen electoral democracy. It is in this light that the current study seeks to locate the impact of biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general election.
5
1.2 Statement of the Problem
What really instigated the research on biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general election is the continuous growth of irregularities in Nigeria political elections; evidence has it that the citizens of Nigeria have never been satisfied with the manner in which election have being conducted in Nigeria. The 2015 general election was the closest electoral contest since the country’s post-1999 transition to multi- party democracy (International Republican
Institute, 2015). The election is the most politically engaged in the history of electoral democracy in Nigeria. It is important to note that as at the time of conducting the 2015 general election, nine general elections had already been conducted in Nigeria since political independence in 1960. These included 1964, 1979, 1983, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and
2015. Of this number, the military conducted the 1979, 1993, and 1999 transition elections as the country transited from military to civilian governments. On the other hand, the 1964,
1983, 2003,2007,2011 as well as the 2015 general elections were organized by civilian governments as transition from one civilian administration to another.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) insistence in the use of Smart
Card Readers (SCR), Biometric Capturing for the 2015 general election which have aroused various reactions from an array of political leaders and citizens throughout Nigeria. In the past, Nigerian elections have been marred by irregularities and ballot stuffing, and Professor
Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, promised to improve the country’s electoral process by using the SCR. This follows other instrumental reforms such as implementing a new voter’s registration campaign that captured the bio-data of voters - including fingerprints and the introduction of a Permanent Voters Card (PVC).
Other arguments against the use of SCRs by scholars are that they should not be used for the first time during a general election; rather they should have been tested during smaller by- elections. To resolve this issue, INEC conducted a test-run of the SCR on 7 March in 12
6
states, consisting of 225 polling units and 358 voting points. Based on reports of the exercise, there were some issues with biometric verification, such that the fingerprints of many voters were not successfully verified by the SCR. However, INEC provided a solution for dealing with such issues if they arise on voting day. A genuine PVC holder will be allowed to complete an incident form, which details the issue concerning the accreditation and then will be allowed to proceed with the accreditation and voting.
Retroactive, debate continued after some governors of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) declared that the trial-test was a failure and that the SCR is unreliable because the SCR was unable to recognize many of the electorates’ fingerprints, inevitably slowing the accreditation process. They also argued that poor internet service in some locations and inadequate knowledge about the use of the card reader by both INEC officials and voters also contributed to the failure of the process. Conversely, the All Progressives Congress (APC) argued in favor of the use of the SCR, on the ground that SCR can only guarantee a credible election in Nigeria.
Nevertheless,Elections in Nigeria are usually characterized by thuggery and violence. This is as a result of malpractices experienced during election. The search for credible elections has been a major source of concerned to Nigerian. Elections in the past were done through the use of manual accreditation and this creates room for massive manipulation of election results by the ruling party. The resultant effect of this menace is poor governance as contestants who claim to emerge winners feel they bought votes by their money, as such, no meaningful development is recorded. It was at this background that the Independent Electoral
Commission under the leadership of Prof. Jega introduced the use of an electronic device which was use in the 2015 general elections which seem to have provided some credibility in the electoral process in the country. It is in the light of the above, that this research paper intent to analysis the impact of biometric card reader in the outcome of 2015 general election.
7
Contemptuously, the confidence of INEC in the use of biometric card reader in the 2015 general elections is encouraging; the technology came with some challenges, even though the elections have been widely adjudged as being successful by political actors. For instance, during the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly elections across the country, the card readers malfunctioned in several polling units, a situation that caused undue delay in the accreditation process. The challenges ranged from rejection of permanent voter's card (PVC) by the card readers, inability to capture the biometrics from finger tips, to irregular capturing and fast battery drainage (ThisDayLive, April 23, 2015). Elections in Nigeria right from the early years of independence were characterized by electoral malpractice and these undermine the democratic practice. In an attempt to bring about free and fair election in Nigeria, biometric technology was introduced in 2015 general election, these studies attempt to assess the impact of biometric card reader in the outcome of 2015 general election in Nigeria.It is on this note that the study poses the following research questions for investigation:
1. Did the use of Biometric Card Reader enhance the credibility of 2015 general
elections in Nigeria?
2. Did the Voter Authentication and Biometric Authentication contribute to the victory
of APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This study has both broadand specific objectives. The broad objective of the study is to investigate the impact biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general elections in
Nigeria.
Nevertheless, the study has the following specific objectives to accomplish:
1. To examine whether the use of Biometric Card Reader enhanced the Credibility
of2015 General Elections in Nigeria.
8
2. To determine whether the Voter and Biometric Authentication contribute to the
victory of the APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The study of biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general election has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically the study tends to serve as knowledge frontier to students of political science and academia who would like to conductresearch in this area and also expand the scope of knowledge. At the theoretical level, the study review Biometric card reader, the electoral process and the electoral outcome of the
2015 general election. By provoking discourse, the study contributes to the growing body of knowledge and debate on biometric card reader in Nigeria and African electoral process, and fills the gap in the literature.Some of these studies dealt holistically with the introduction of biometric card reader in election and how it contributed to the outcome of the electoral process.
However, none has examined the impact of biometric card reader in 2015 general elections. Against this backdrop, the study therefore adds to the existing literature on the impact of biometric card reader in the outcome of 2015 general election in Nigeria. In addition to this, the study will offer a viable theoretical framework in which biometric card reader can be practically adopted and equally implemented in Nigeria electoral processes, and also act as a reference material for students and scholars who are interested in research on the impact of biometric card reader in the outcome of 2015 general election in Nigeria.This is why the study is important and is being carried out with a view to fill in the gap in knowledge.
On the practical perspective, West African states, especially Nigeria, have been faced with the challenges of conducting a credible election. Interestingly, the emergence of
Biometric technology will surely contribute to the successful conduct of elections in Nigeria
9
and beyond Nigeria. On this note, the study is of immense benefit to both the UN and other national or regional electoral bodies as it opens a new vista on how the biometric technology can be implemented to have an accepted electoral outcome. More specifically, the study serves as an eye opener to Nigeria on the use of biometric technology in ensuring peaceful and accepted elections. Practically the study will help policy makers such as government agencies like Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Electoral Colleges and
Electoral institutions in improving electoral process in Nigeria and beyond Nigeria.
10
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will reinventthe extant literature on the subject matter of this study. The impact of biometric technologies in improving the outcome of the 2015 general elections, which has not attracted much attention in the literature, but has been widely acknowledged by officials of EMBs and pro-democracy activists in Nigeria. Research on biometric methods across the world has gained renewed attention in recent years brought on by an increase in security concerns. The recent world attitude towards violence has influenced electorate and the governments to take action and be more proactive in issues that concern election credibility.
According to Jitendra, Singh, Ali (2014), many biometric techniques have been developed and are being improved with the most successful being applied in everyday law enforcement, electoral processes and security applications. Biometric methods include several state of the art techniques like facial recognition, fingerprints, voicerecognition, retina scans, palm prints, etc. Among them, fingerprint which is considered to be the most powerful technique for utmost election credibility. The review adopted a thematic approach based on the following variables in our research questions:
1. Biometric card readerand the electoral process
2. The biometric card reader and electoral outcome
2:1 Biometric card reader and the electoral process
The term “Biometrics” is derived from the Greek words “bio” (life) and “metrics” (to measure) Source (http://www.biometrics.gov/documents/biohistory.pdf cited 25.02.2012) &
Rood &Hornak, (2008).Integration into the global politics according to a publication of United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) (2011) in their contribution in the discourse ofbiometric systems said biometric has become available over the last few decades, due to the significant advances in the field of computer and image processing. Although
11
biometric technology seems to belong to the twenty first century, the history of biometrics goes back thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians and the Chinese played a large role in biometrics history.
According to Prof. Yakubu (2017)Biometrics is the term given to the use of biological traits or behavioral characteristics to identify an individual. It has always been an arduous task for the election Commission in Nigeria to conduct an election that will be free and fair in the country, the largest populated nation in Africa. Billions of Nairahas been spent on this to make sure that the elections are riot free and fair. But, nowadays it has become common for some forces to indulge in rigging which may eventually lead to a result contrary to the actual verdict given by the electorate.
2:1:1 Evolution of biometrics
Kong, Zhang, Kamel (2009) states that Biometrics is a branch of science which is very much used since 14th century in China by collecting the fingerprints of the merchants and their offspring to identify them from others. They maintained that in the 19th century, a human identification technique named Bertillon age is developed by an Anthropologist called
Alphonse Bertillon by collecting the human body measurements to recognize them. He had realized the human physical features by placing them in two categories named as changing features like length of hair, weight, etc., and the unchanged human physical features like length of fingers. But this method vanished quickly because of the false recognition of persons as it is eminent that more than one person may have same body measurements
(Battaglia, Iannizzotto, Bello 2014; Bowyer, Hollingsworth, Flynn 2016).
According to (Jitendra, Singh, Ali, 2014), (Kalyani, 2017) biometric had developed as a self- determining field of study with accurate technologies for establishing individual identities.
These scholars believe with the aid of biometric, that it will be difficult for someone to claim ownership of another person’s biometric identification because of the tangible recognition
12
means which is provided in the PVC issued by the Electoral bodies that handle and conduct elections in a country.
2:1:1:1 Evolution of biometrics in Africa
The principle of “oneperson, one vote” is one of thecornerstones of democraticelections.
Upholding this principlerequires reliable and up-to-datevoter lists, which is often a challengefor many countries for variousreasons. In parts of Sub-SaharanAfrica, low birth registration rates,lack of official ID documentationand the prevalence of ruralpopulations make it particularlydifficult to register and identifyeligible voters accurately.
Genkey (2016) believes thatbiometrics has a major role toplay in overcoming that challenge confronting election in Africa.Many countries in Africa arereforming their voter registrationprocesses and adopting biometrictechnology to improve the credibilityand transparency of their elections.
In fact, Africa is fast becominga global forerunner in biometricelections. Of all the countriesworldwide using biometrics in theelection process, more than halfare located in
Africa, with manymore African countries includingChad, Zimbabwe and Botswanaset to embark on biometricelections in coming years.
Since 2012, Genkeyhas worked withpartners in Africa and elsewhere to successfully deliver biometricprograms for several large-scaleelections in countries throughoutAfrica, including
Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania and Mozambique.One key advantage of our approachis that it’s fully comprehensive,with biometric solutions coveringeach of the three critical stagesof the process: registering voters,reduplicating voter lists andverifying voter identities on pollingday. While they can work effectivelyas stand-alone solutions, each canalso work in tandem with the others,creating a seamless, complementarysystem that strengthens reliabilityand accuracy.
13
The first stage of the processis voter enrollment. This involvesregistering voters by collectingtheir biographic details (name, dateof birth, gender, address, and so on),along with biometric data. In orderto register all eligible voters for a national election a large numberof registration centers are set upthroughout the country, staffedby trained operators using biometricenrollment devices.
For example, in Ghana’s presidentialelections, the voter registrationprocess involved capturing image templates of all ten fingerprints, as well as a facial picture.
The cumulative processing of hundreds of millions of fingerprints has enabled Genkey to refine the quality of its processing to an unprecedented level. This vital experience demonstrates our ability to achieve the highest level of data integrity, not just under laboratory conditions, but in real-life field conditions.
Throughout Africa, GenKey’s biometric solutions are helping to deliver
free and fair elections, securing the fundamental democratic principle of
one person, one vote. That success is down to a combination of state-of-
the-art technologies, and an end-to-end approach to biometrics that covers
every stage of the election process, from registration all the way to the
polling booth (Genkey 2016:3).
Immediately after registration, each eligible voter receives a voter ID card, which includes their facialphotograph and a barcode with theunique ID card number. These cardsare used to verify the identityof voters on Election Day, alongwith their biometric signatureand biographic details.
The next stage in the creationof a clean voter registry is the deduplication process. This step detects and eradicatesany duplicate records in the voterlist, ensuring that candidates areenrolled only once. Our deduplication process is powered by GenKey’s ABIS (Automated
14
Biometric Identity System), an industry-leading technology that’s proven toreduplicate large- scale electoralregisters securely and reliably.
The processing speed of GenKey’s ABIS goes far beyond industrystandard, reaching up to 1 billionfingerprint matches per secondper server. In fact, our ABIS isso fast that the deduplication process can happen continuously and in real time, in parallel withregistration.
Duplicate entries aredetected, adjudicated and handledaccordingly as soon as they enterthe database, resulting in anelectronic voter list that’s alwaysaccurate and up to date.
GenKey’s approach to voter registration and deduplication has provided clean, reliable voter listsfor large-scale elections throughoutAfrica. In Mozambique and Ghana, technology has helped to providea credible voter register of 9 millionand 15 million eligible votersrespectively. For Tanzania’s 2015presidential elections, biometric program resultedin a clean voter list of 23million people.
The third and final stage of theprocess is the verification stage –the moment when a voter’sidentity is verified so they can casttheir vote. Using a combination ofbiometric and biographic data, ourapproach ensures that only thoseeligible to vote can do so, and thatthey vote only once.When a voter arrives at a pollingstation, they present their voter IDcard. A polling officer then uses abiometric verification device (BVD)to compare the details on the card(name, voter ID, facial picture, andso on) with the details on the voterregister. If these match, the officerscans the barcode on the voterregister, which brings up an image of the voter’s face on the devicedisplay. If the image correspondsto the face of the voter, the officer then scans the voter’s fingerprintto biometrically verify the voter’sidentity. If this is successful, theofficer inks the voter’s finger andissues a ballot paper. From startto finish, the whole process takesaround 20 seconds.
Piccolino (2015) stated that Nigeria has used the automated fingerprint identification system since the 2011 polls. But in 2011 it only created a digital register to eliminate
15
doubleregistration from the register and was capable of verifying the identity of the voters in the polling stations. The INEC argues that these new features will bring additional benefits, especially in preventing double voting and ballot stuffing.
Jega (2016) emphasized that the use of technology in the 2015 general elections was not new to elections in Nigeria. INEC was also convinced that using biometric technology is not only for registration process, but also for maintaining a database of registered voters. These registered voters would help improve the outcome of the 2015 general election in Nigeria.
2:1:2 Types of Biometrics
According to Kalyani(2017) Biometric devices have many types, but majorly there are six types of biometrics which are commonly used. Biometrics isbasically the recognition of human being personality that are uniqueto each human, which includes facial recognition, fingerprints, voicerecognition, retina scans, palm prints. Bolle and Pankanti(2004) also maintained that any of the techniques can be implored and used to have a peaceful electoral process.
Biometric technologies are devices used to keep safe information of an electorate in a clip to ensure that the electorate data are safe, and can be used by the electorate during and after election. Some of the types of biometrics according to Kalyani (2017) include:
1. Retina scanner
According to Kalyani(2017)retinal scan is a biometric approach that makes use of the uniquepatterns on someone's retina to discover them. The human retinais athis tissue composed of neural cells that are located within the posterior part of the eye. Due to the complex shape of thecapillaries that deliver the retina with blood, all and sundry's retina isunique. The network of blood vessels within the retina is so complicatedthat even identical twins do not proportion a comparable sample. Eventhough retinal styles can be altered in instance of diabetes, glaucoma or retinal degenerative disorders, the retina typically remains
16
unaffected from birth till dying. Due to its unique and unchanging nature, the retina seems to be the maximum precise and dependable biometric.
Although several experiments are unique biometric pattern in every body’s iris, and it suits towards a positive range of particular identifying marks that set every person apart from one another. Advantages ofusing Retinal experiment consist of low prevalence of false positives, extraordinarily low (nearly 0%) fake bad charges, highly dependablebecause no humans have the same retinal sample, rapid results: identity of the issue is verified right away. Dangers include measurement accuracy can be stricken by a sickness such as cataracts, measurement accuracy also can be affected by severe astigmatism, canning technique is perceived by some as invasive, no longer very consumer friendly, difficulty being Scanned have to be close to the dig cam optics, high equipment cost.
2. Iris scanning
Iris scanning according to Kalyani (2017)refers to the uses digital camera technology, with slight infrared illumination lowering pertaining reflection from the convex cornea, to create photographs of the detail-wealthy, elaborate systems of the iris. Converted into digital templates, those snap shots offer mathematical representations of the iris that yield unambiguous wonderful identity of an individual. Bowyer, Kevin, Hollingsworth, Flynn
(2016),as cited in Kalyani et al (2017:2)maintained that Iris reputation efficiency is not often impeded by using glasses or contact lenses. Iris technology hasthe smallest outlier (folks that cannot use/enroll) group of all biometric technologies. Because of its pace of contrast, iris reputation is thehandiest biometric technology nicely-perfect for one-to-many identity. Merit of iris reputation is its balance, or template sturdiness, a single enrollment can close an entire life.
According to Surekha, Jayant, ViswanadhaRaju, Dey (2017), as cited in Kalyani et al
(2017:2) there are few benefits of the use of iris as biometric identification: it's far an inner
17
organ this is properly included against damage and wear by a rather obvious and touchy membrane (the cornea).An iris experiment is similar to taking a photograph and can be achieved from about 10 cm to 3 m away. There is no need for the person to be diagnosed to touch any equipment that has currently been touched by another person, thereby getting rid of an objection that has been raised in some cultures in opposition to fingerprint scanners, in which a finger has to touch a surface, or retinal scanning, where the eye can be delivered very close to a lens (like looking into a microscope lens).Even as there are a few clinical and surgical strategies that could affect the coloration and normal form of the iris, the first-rate texture stays remarkably stable over many years. Some iris identifications have succeeded over duration of approximately 30 years.
Another vital point noted by Holtved (2011) is that iris is as unique as a fingerprint, it is not prone to wear in the same way a fingerprint is, and people only have two irises compared to ten fingers. The equipment required to capture iris scans is however still very expensive compared to other scanners like fingerprint scanners etc.
3. Finger print scanner
Fingerprints are the graphical glide-like ridges gift on human palms. Finger ridge configurations do no longer exchange for the duration of the life of a person besides due to accidents including bruises and cuts on the fingertips (Kalyani 2017). There are many different sensing methods to obtain the ridge-and-valley pattern of finger skin or fingerprint
(Xia and O’Gorman, 2003).This belonging makes fingerprints a totally attractive biometric identifier. Fingerprint-based totally private identification has been used for a very long time.
As a long way as fee is going, the fingerprint scanning is on the lower stop of the dimensions.
The most inexpensive fingerprint scanners are those that best scan the actual print, though the dearer ones really experiment the presence of blood in the fingerprint, the scale and shape of the thumb, and plenty of different features. Those costlier structures in reality
18
capture a 3D photo of the fingerprint, thereby making it a great deal more difficult for the fingerprint to be counterfeited.
Similarly Holtved (2011) observed that Finger printing is the type of biometrics that has been used for a very long time. The left and right hand prints of a person are not identical.
With the aid of Fingerprinting it will be difficult to manipulate election outcome.
4. Facial biometrics
Kalyani (2017)emphasises that every individual around the globe has a distinctly unique face, eventwo twins that the human eye can't differentiate. It might be somethingas little as the slightly unique placing of the eyebrows, the widthof the eyes, or the breadth of the nose.
There are sure markers thatenable these biometric acknowledgment scanners to in a split secondrecognize the uniqueness of every individual examining their facialelements, in this manner empowering the gadget to guarantee thatlone the single individual with the right bone structure and highlight situation can obtain entrance. PCs have contributed in the programmed acknowledgment of people utilizing the incontestable facial qualities which prompted wide importance of the Face Recognition System (FRS).
Similarly, Rukovodstvo, Boll, Konnel, and Pankanti (2007) remarked that Facial recognition has several benefits to fingerprints. First of all, voters have only one face compared to ten fingers. Secondly, a photo is usually taken anyway. People are generally also less resistant to having their photo taken compared to fingerprints (with specific cultural differences, e.g. in relation to women in particular countries reluctant to revealing their face).
Developing a suitable biometric template from a photo does raise the requirements to the environment in which the photo is taken. Photos taken in poor light or with shadows across the face can pose problems. As for fingerprinting it is highly advisable that the registration
19
computer has software that can determine on the spot whether a suitable template can be developed.
5. Hand/Palm print patterns
Germane as Babich (2012) Analysis that placing your hand on a scanner, you not only have a unique fingerprint pattern, but the size and shape of your entire hand is also very unique as shown in Figure 6. It differs to a unique finger impression in that it likewise contains other data, for example, touch, indents and symbols which can be utilized when contrasting one palm with another. As brevity stated by Shradha, Chourasia, Chourasia
(2015) Hand prints can be used for criminal, forensic or commercial applications. The main difficulty of hand print is that the print changes with time depending on the type of work the person is doing for an extended duration of time.
6. Signature scanning
Thus, another behavioral biometric is a signature at which the data can be extracted by the signature of that particular person. The responsibility of a signature is exclusively not only to provide evidence of the identity of the constricting gathering but moderately to provide evidence during collection. Signature recognition correctly became easier and more efficient.
Moreover, the electorate is required to sign a registration form. This can be on an electronic signature pad. In principle a signature can also be measured and a template developed in the same way as the biological features above. However, as it is very possible to train oneself to fraudulently replicate someone else’s signature, and even simpler to alter your own signature while attempting double registration, signatures are not suitable for de- duplication.
Meanwhile, some scholars like Rood &Hornak, (2008);Battaglia, Iannizzotto, Bello
(2014); Bowyer, Hollingsworth, Flynn (2016); Yakubu, (2017);Kalyani (2017);Shradha,
20
Chourasia, (2015);Surekha, Jayant, ViswanadhaRaju, Dey (2017);Bowyer, Kevin,
Hollingsworth, Flynn (2016); Gelb & Decker, (2012); states that the establishments of biometric is important in Nigeria and around the global electoral processes checking from the types of biometrics, its applications, importance to the unique nature and the uses of biometrics in electoral process in Nigeria, Africa and around the globe to ensure safety of lives and property during and after election.
2:1:3 Biometrics in Elections
Ole (2011) stressed thatBiometrics has been used in civil and voter registration around the world for more than a decade. Biometrics can basically be used for two main purposes:
a) De-duplication or registries, i.e. finding multiple occurrences of the same person in a
register.
b) Identification, e.g. in access control systems, for logging in on a computer, or for
identifying a voter in a polling station on Election Day.
Adding to the above Ole (2011) maintained that the vast majority of countries where biometrics have been used in civil/voter registration, the motivation for using biometrics has been to de-duplicate the register. Often these countries have had no reliable register beforehand or the identification documents have been of such standard that falsification has been easy. People register multiple times for several reasons. It can be for the purpose of voting several times, it can be to obtain other services several times (e.g. pensions), it can be to “cheat the system” and flaunt it, or it can simply be due to misunderstandings. A common occurrence is that the registration process has not been designed to easily allow for a change of address, wherefore people when moving re-register without having their old record deleted. Any registration process design should keep in mind sustainability and the long term maintenance of the system.
21
47% of voter registrations in elections in Africa are biometric, according to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (Nov. 2014).
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (2011) states that biometrics for identification on Election Day is not a common motivation for civil/voter registration. There are no cases known to this author of countries employing biometrics on
Election Day. A few countries use barcode or card readers on Election Day to check that the voter belongs to the polling location in question, but these do not include biometric checks. It is solely a means to replace a paper voter list and the time it takes to find a person on the list with a faster, electronic solution. The check that the card belongs to the person holding it is usually a simple visual check that the face of the person corresponds to the photo on the card.
2:1:4 Adopting Biometric Technology in Nigeria Electoral Process
According to Jega, (2015) the use of biometric voter registration (BVR) in the 2015 elections was not new to elections in Nigeria. INEC used BVR before the 2011 elections. The reason for introducing it at the time was that INEC realized that the quality of an election was closely related to the integrity or validity of the voter register. INEC was also convinced that using biometric technology not only for registration process, but also for maintaining a database of registered voters would help improve the overall quality of elections in Nigeria.
At the time when BVR was done in January/February 2011, many people were concerned that it may not be possible to utilize the system for the 2011 elections due to the short time period. The elections were to hold in April of 2011. INEC was able to conduct the
BVR within three weeks. This entailed equipping each of the 120,000 polling units in Nigeria with a data capture device. Between February and March of 2011, INEC was able to remove close to one million multiple registrants from the voter register.
For the 2015 elections, we used Advance Fingerprint Identification System
(AFIS) for de-duplication and removal of multiple registrants in the national database. INEC
22
ensured that this technology was widely used to match fingerprints, and to eliminate multiple registrants. The introduction helped INEC to improve on the national database, which INEC had established since 2011. Since the AFIS introduced was about 95% accurate, INEC also made provisions for it to be complemented by a manual, physical verification system.
Through this manual verification process, INEC detected and removed more multiple registrants from the register. At the time of the elections, INEC was confident that it had the cleanest register ever used in elections in Nigeria.
Despite this, INEC were also conscious of the possibility of multiple voting and knew we needed to prevent it. This was why INEC issued every registered voter with the
Permanent Voters Card (PVC), which contained his/her demographic and biometric information on a chip. We then used the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) during the 2015 elections to identify, verify and authenticate voters before they were allowed to vote. The combination of the PVC and the card reader helped to prevent multiple voting.
When observing the use of biometrics in an electoral context, it is useful to assess the level of knowledge of the technology amongst various stakeholders - not only the elections management body which is implementing biometric voter registration - but also political parties, media houses, civil society and citizen observation organisations.
Giaufret (nd);Nwafor, (2017),emphasises that prior to the adoption of technology for use in
Nigeria’s electoral process, thevoter registers had been compiled manually. The manual register could not beupdated, but was fraught with inaccuracies, and was believed to be bloated withunderage and duplicate registrations.
In 2002, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) started ICT upgrades with the introduction of optical mark recognition (OMR)technology for voter registration. The register produced from this exercisewas used for the 2003 elections but was discarded
23
because of the enormousnumber of exceptions that resulted from forms that had not been completedproperly.
In 2006 INEC came up with the concept of an electronic voting systemwith four components: an electronic voter register (EVR), electronic votingmachines, electronic voter authentication and electronic transmission ofresults, in which biometric technologies are now used for the voter registerand voter authentication.
Beginning in 2006, handheld direct data capture devices were used for voter registration.
Some 32,000 devices captured details that included biographicaldata, two thumbprints and a photograph of each registrant. These registerswere used for the 2007 general elections.
However, due to the irregularities associated with the registers not the technology itself the registers wereabandoned. The irregularities arose from the late arrival of machines, whichforced people to go and look for machines instead of waiting for the machines to be deployed to centres close to them, which led to double registrations andmisplaced voters.
2:1:5 Uses of Biometric card reader in election
Bolle & Pankanti (2004) maintained that Biometrics involves the measurement and analysis of unique physical or behavioural characteristics, especially as a means of verifying and identifying an individual. The application of biometrics in election is not new. The first fingerprint catalogues of known criminals were established in the second half of the 19th century for the use of police investigators and criminal courts (National Institute of Justice
2011). The second half of the 20th century saw further advances in the development of automated biometric identification systems (Jain, FlynRen& Ross 2008). In recent years, the application of biometric technologies has expanded rapidly in diverse fields such as access control, border security, citizen registration, passports and identification cards, and elections
(Das 2016).
24
In the late 1990s and early 2000s analogue technologies were used to capture biometric voter registration data. For example, Polaroid cameras were used to capture facial images of registrants, and registrants’ fingerprints were recorded using ink and paper. This information was attached to paper registration forms and later scanned and digitalized at data centres
(EISA 2010). Now, such analogue systems are obsolete, and biometric data are largely captured using electronic registration kits, including digital cameras and digital fingerprint pads. The number of countries adopting biometrics in elections has steadily increased to over
50, with significant differences between regions: while there are virtually no users in Europe, about half of the countries in Africa and Latin America use this technology in elections
(IDEA ICTs in Elections Database).
Fingerprint is the most commonly used most of the times, in addition to demographics of the voter, for polling registration and authentication. The use of biometric card reader will bring about the much needed credibility in the electoral process. It will also add tremendously in the transparency in the accreditation process on Election Day. It will go a long way in preventing election malpractice such as double registration during DDC period. It will also bring about efficient and effective ways of ascertaining the authenticity of the PVC and the data of the holder.
2:2 The biometric card reader and electoral outcome
Based on the 2011 challenges and previous experiences, INEC, in 2015 introduced Smart
Card Readers as a new template for the first time in the history of Nigeria to improve the integrity of the electoral processes (Olumide, 2015). Although, the ruling party moved to undermine the new policy, but INEC as an independent body of the electoral processes resist the attempt (Fabiyi, 2015).In spite of the assurances given by INEC to address the issues that aroused with the card readers after it’s test-run in twelve states of the federation, the 2015
25
general elections witnessed the inability of the device to deliver effectively in a large number of polling units especially in the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
The level of awareness among the electorates about the card reader was poor. A large number of Nigerians especially the electorates in rural communities are completely unaware of the device. Many of these categories of people have neither seen nor heard about the card reader until the Election Day. These categories of people have no information on the role of the card reader in the elections. There was a lot misconception about the device. To some of the electorates, the card reader was a voting device. This inadequate information dissemination and poor sensitization of the electorates on the card reader led to some poor human relations and uncooperative attitudes between some of the illiterate electorates and election officials (Onapajo, 2014).
Biometric authentication and Biometric identification
Biometric authentication simply mean the process of verifying an electorate identity using your measurements or other unique characteristics of your body, then logging you in a service, an app, a device and so on. What’s complicated is the technology behind it, so let’s see how it works.
Biometric identification verifies electorates based on electorate body measurements.
Biometric authentication goes one step further and uses that information to compare the electorate against a database and enters electorates’ information in a service.
Biometric authentication works by comparing two sets of data: the first one is preset by the legitimate electorate of the device, while the second one belongs to a device visitor. If the two data are nearly identical, the device knows that “visitor” and “electorate” are one and the same, and gives access to the person.
The important thing to note is that the match between the two data sets has to be nearly identical but not exactly identical. This is because it’s close to impossible for 2 biometric data
26
to match 100%. For instance, you might have a slightly sweaty finger or a tiny, tiny scar that changes the print pattern. Designing the process so that it doesn’t require an exact match greatly diminishes the chance of a false negative (the device doesn’t recognize your fingerprint) but also increases the odds that a fake fingerprint might be considered genuine.
2:2:1 Voter Authentications as a tool for Election Credibility
According to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu(2017), Nigeria voter Authentication is the process of verifying that the person thatRegistered to vote is the same person that is at the polling station to cast his vote; This process takes place during the accreditation of voters on election day;
Voter accreditation has hitherto been manual, exposing the process to human manipulations and fraudulent practices;The manual process was improved upon in 2011 with the introduction of accreditation before voting – ensuring that voting commences about the same time in all the Polling Units.
For the 2015 General Election and Anambra governmental election in 2017 however, INEC decided to apply biometric technology to optimize the process with the advent of the
Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and the Smart Card Reader (SCR).
Accreditation process has been broken down into three:
a) Identification - physical comparison of the face of the card holder with the image
displayed on the SCR when the PVC is read.
b) Verification (that the card is original) - being able to read the information on the chip
of the PVC presented.
c) Authentication - comparison of the fingerprint stored on the card with what was
physically presented and scanned by the reader.
Once PVC has been read and accredited by the SCR, the Voter Identification Number (VIN) is stored in the reader and it does not allow the accreditation of that VIN on that particular reader any longer.The use of the PVC and SCR gave a lot of credibility to the 2017
27
governmental election in Anambra state. Electoral Process, as it greatly assisted in ensuring one-man-one-vote; though not without some challenges. Main issue encountered on the day of Elections was the perceived “failure of the readers” – as authentication became a major issue. This was mainly because of either of the following:
a) Poor training of ad-hoc personnel – little hands-on during training.
b) Poor handling of machines by ad-hoc staff – fear of technical equipment.
c) Unwillingness to use the card readers by some politicians and persons
d) Sabotage of the process by stakeholders.
The broad range of biometric characteristics that can be measured includes fingerprints, palm prints, retina and iris scans, voice patterns and DNA profiles (Bolle and Pankanti 2004). In a biometric verification system, an individual claims an identity, for example by providing a name and date of birth. The individual’s biometric features are captured and compared to previously capture and confirmed biometric which is already stored in the system.
2:2:2Impact of Technology in Reducing Fraud during the 2015 General Election.
However, Ahmed, Usman (2015) spotted that, despite the challenges that confronted the operation of some of the technology used during the 2015 general election, a significant impact of the device usage was observed after the elections in Nigeria.
First, the use of the card reader led to the increase and reinforcement of public confidence and trust in the electoral process. This public confidence is dependent on the integrity of an election which the 2015 general election appears to possess. Majority of Nigerians after the elections believed that their votes could count and as such their will could be respected in future elections; and this has reinforced the legitimacy of Nigerians in the democratic process.
28
Secondly, electoral fraud was reduced. Inflation of the number of voters present and multiple voting at polling stations were reduced. The device checked the undemocratic attitude of politicians in polling booth electoral malpractices (Amenaghawon, 2015).
Thirdly, election litigations were minimized. There was a departure from the past where every election outcome is being contested at the election tribunal. Most of the candidates that lost in the 2015 general election did not challenge the outcome. In fact, some of the major contenders that did not win in the election embraced and congratulated the winners. For instance, the PDP presidential candidate immediately congratulated the APC presidential candidate, the winner of the presidential election. This attitude also happened across many states of the federation in the governorship and house of assembly elections and national assembly elections.
I think that 2015 will go down in Nigeria political history as a glorious
year. Nigerians have deliberately understood what multi-party democracy
is. But we thank God for technology, for the PVC and the card reader. If
not this luck we had with technology and the insistence of constituencies
to make sure they were used (we would not have won).In two political
zones where they were subverted, the people wanted to vote, but they
were not allowed to vote. Sources: Channels: Politics: Buhari: Change
Will Also Come To INEC May 7, 2015.
In addition, electoral conflicts and violence were very minimal as the election was seen to be transparent and credible due to the use of the card reader. The usually excessive and pointless attacking and degrading between the election winners and losers in past electoral contest was significantly reduced. In view of the minimal level of electoral fraud due to the use of the card reader, tensions were reduced among the political gladiators, and as such, electoral
29
conflict and violence was grossly diminished in the 2015 general elections outcome compare to past elections in Nigeria (Ekuwem, 2015),
Furthermore, Nigeria’s democratic capacity has increased and its democratic institutions strengthened. Nigerians and Nigeria’s democratic institutions now understood the knowledge needed to have a free and fair election in order to deepen the democratic process.
Moreover, Ahmed, Usman (2015);Ekuwem, (2015);Amenaghawon, (2015) maintained that the technology introduced by the Electoral Management bodies has contributed to the credibility of the outcome of the 2015 general election in Nigeria which the losses accepted in good faith. In order to underscore the critical role of the card reader in 2015 general election, it is important to note that technology is moderating the outcome of election result in
Nigeria and beyond Nigeria.
2:2:3Outcome of Card Reading Machine on the Conduct of 2015 General Election.
Industry stakeholders have continued to hail INEC for introducing card readers in the 2015 general elections, which they said, helped in no small measure in reducing election fraud across the country, despite the challenges that came with it. According to them, the card reader technology did not only reduce election rigging and snatching of ballot boxes from polling units, but also enhanced speedy and accurate electoral processes during accreditation of voters. Chief Executive Officer of Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, told
THISDAY that the use of card reader machines for the 2015 general elections has proved that
INEC could conduct credible elections with minimal complaints (This Day Live, 2015).
The use of card readers for elections is highly commendable because it has helped reduced election fraud like multiple registrations and multiple voting. With the card readers, the true identities of card holders were matched with the details contained in their permanent voter's cards (PVCs), during accreditation and the process helped in reducing fraudulent accreditation that marred electoral processes in the past (Ekuwem, 2015). He advised INEC
30
to continue to explore the power of technology in subsequent elections, and called on the electoral body to create a backend database that is linked with the card readers in order to give voters the opportunity to vote from anywhere in the country, using their PVC, instead of restricting them to vote only in their registration centres. He advised INEC to apply the technology of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) cards issued by banks, which allows card holders to withdraw cash from any bank that is located anywhere in the country.
According to Ekuwem (2015), voters should be able to use their PVCs on any card reader for accreditation and voting in any part of the country, irrespective of where the voter was registered. That it will allow people who may have relocated from their place of registration, to vote in their new areas of residence.Reacting to the situation where some of the card readers malfunctioned during the elections, Ekuwem said it was expected because the technology was new and that most of the INEC officials were not conversant with the card reader technology. He said he became pleased with INEC when some of the complaints about card readers were addressed during the Governorship and State House elections (Ekuwem,
2015).
The President of Information Technology Systems and Security Professionals (ITSSP), Mr.
RogbaAdeoye, commended INEC for the use of card readers. According to him, the card reader technology was able to reduce election fraud by providing accurate records of accredited voters who were the same people that were allowed to vote. He said the card readers were able to address discrepancies between actual voters and fake voters. Chairman of the House Committee on ICT, Honorable ShehuGusau, told THISDAY that although the card reader technology is new to Nigerians, it has helped to achieve a fair and free election, without massive rigging (Onapajo, 2014). President of the Association of
Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, also commended
INEC for the introduction of card reader machines for election, and described the technology
31
as a worldwide technology that is driving economies. Having successfully tested and implemented the card reader technology for the 2015 general elections, it will be good if
INEC take into consideration the observed lapses from the use of the machines, and perfect them in subsequent elections in order to surpass the election credibility and transparency it achieved in the just concluded elections (Amenaghawon, 2015).
Having critically examined the extant literature and the intellectual inputs of scholars like Rood &Hornak, (2008); Battaglia, Iannizzotto, Bello 2014; Bowyer W, Hollingsworth
KP, Flynn PJ (2016); Mahmood Yakubu, (2017); Kalyani C.H (2017);Shradha, Chourasia,
(2015); Surekha, Jayant, ViswanadhaRaju, Dey (2017); Bowyer, Kevin, Hollingsworth,
Flynn (2016); Aleksandra Babich (2012);Olanipekun, Lateef, O. &Adesanya, Ahmed,
A.(nd)and others on the impact of biometric card reader on election credibility, consistent efforts to fashion out proper measures for the use and acceptance of biometric card reader in
Nigeria electoral process has been intensified, our knowledge of Nigeria’s electoral processes has been greatly improved with the introduction of biometric in Nigeria election.
However, in contradistinction to these scholarly ideas in the extant literature, the issues of biometric card reader on election credibility still remain very unclear and highly ambiguous.
That is, in spite of the reasons proffered to explain the failure and instabilities of the biometric card reader in Nigeria and the solutions articulated by these scholars that biometric card reader remains the only means for election credibility in Nigeria and the world in general.
Because of this, adequate scholarly explanations have not been given to issues of biometric card reader on election credibility in Nigeria but outside Nigeria it has gained more attention.
Based on this, this study will not only examine how the electoral umpires and stakeholders sees biometric but will go deeper in seeing the benefit and importance of the biometric card reader in electoral processes in Nigeria and around the world and how biometric card reader
32
will enhance and bring a possible solution to the electoral problems witnessed in Nigeria with the implementation and steady use of Voter Authentication, biometric authentication and verification on election days.This is the main thrust of this work.
Gap in Literature
The impact of biometric voting technology in improving the outcome of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria has not attracted much attention in the literature, but has been widely acknowledged by officials of EMBs and pro-democracy activists.
A review of literature on elections and electoral processes reveals an acceptance among scholars that elections are the foundations of democratic government (Odoziobodo, 2015;
Iyayi, 2004; Orji, 2014). Other scholars have based their arguments on credible elections on the need for the electoral management bodies to be impartial and independent (Nnabugwu,
2013; Odoziobodo, 2015; Abubakar, Ibrahim, Sani, 2015). In the same momentum other scholars have based their arguments on central roles of rules and regulations that guild election. The behavior of political actors and the consent of the governed (Sammuel,
Felix&Godwyrs, 2013; Omotola, 2010)
Concisely examining the extant literature and the intellectual inputs of scholars like
Omoleke (2017); Battaglia, Iannizzotto, Bello 2014; Professor Attahiru Jega
(2016);Mahmood Yakubu, (2017); Kalyani (2017);Shradha, Chourasia, (2015); Surekha,
Jayant, ViswanadhaRaju, Dey (2017); Bowyer, Kevin, Hollingsworth, Flynn (2016); Bowyer,
Hollingsworth, Flynn (2016);Babich (2012); Rood &Hornak, (2008);Olanipekun, Lateef,
&Adesanya, Ahmed, A.(nd)and others on biometric card reader on election credibility, consistent efforts to fashion out proper measures for the use and acceptance of biometric card reader in the World, African and Nigeria electoral process which has been intensified, our knowledge of Nigeria’s electoral processes has been greatly improved upon with the introduction of technology in Nigeria electoral processes.
33
Scholars’ view on the discourse, from Nigeria has failed to actually address the impact the technology had in the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. This is why the study is important and is being carried out with a view to fill in the gap in knowledge. The gap has underscored the need to establish the impact of biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general elections in Nigeria.
When utilizing biometrics; failures should be expected and accommodated. Automated biometric identification systems often need to be complemented by human adjudication mechanisms. Feedback procedures should be in place to make sure that voters are not disenfranchised where biometric identification is not possible due to technical limitations.
The technology has encountered numerous problems ranging from the critics from the stakeholders that our electoral system is not ripe to employ technology, importantly to note that the 2015 general election was adjudged by both International and local observers as a credible election, because of the use of technology in the electoral processes. The question we are asking now is how was this possible? Would it be that the electronic devices introduced worked or was it the role played by INEC adhoc staff or the commitments in the part of stakeholders involved in the electoral process or the political elites in the society?
34
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Methodology
The methodological processes involved in collecting, presenting and analyzing data in this chapter include:
Theoretical framework
Hypotheses
Research design
Method of data Collection
Method of Data Analysis
Logical data framework
3.2. Theoretical Framework
This study employs the use of cybernetics model of communications theory for analyzing how biometric card reader impacted on the outcome of the 2015 general election in Nigeria.
The communications theory was developed through the research efforts of Norbert Wiener.
In the field of computer technology, cybernetics has become a major conceptual relic of communications theory. The significance of Deutsch’s Nerves of Government: Models of
Political Communication and Control lies in that it is the first attempt to formulate a fully developed theory of politics based on a communications model. He particularly introduced the techniques of cybernetics to the sphere of political analysis. However, it was Wiener’s work: Cybernetics that gave the cybernetics model its analytic favour. Wiener further popularized the social implications of the model, drawing analogies between automatic systems and human institutions in his work, The Human Use of Human Beings:
Cybernetics and Society.
35
Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology in the 1940s, often attributed to the
Macy Conferences. During the second half of the 20th century cybernetics evolved in ways that distinguish first-order cybernetics (about observed systems) from second-order cybernetics (about observing systems). Heinz von Foerster (1981).More recently there is talk about a third-order cybernetics (doing in ways that embrace first and second-order). (Kenny,
Vincent, 15 March 2009).
Cybernetics which is the branch of science interested with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving, storing and processing information so as to use it for control and identification.Cybernetics is relevant to, for example, mechanical, physical, biological, cognitive, and social systems. The essential goal of the broad field of cybernetics is to understand and define the functions and processes of systems that have goals and that participate in circular, causal chains that move from action to sensing to comparison with desired goal, and again to action.
Cybernetics which is the study of the operation of control and communication systems; it deals both with biological systems and man-made machinery. Cybernetics covers not only the versions of information theory...but the theory of games, self-controlling machines, computers and the physiology of the nervous system” (Varma, 1975, pp. 432-433).
These accepted and unaccepted problems and the dysfunctions are analyzed in this research to find out whether Biometric card reader contributed to the successful exercise in 2015 general elections in Nigeria, with the aid of technology during the 2015 general elections in
Nigeria.
3.3. The application of the theory.
Most present days students of politics are committed to the position that all theories
36
that evolve from their art must be scientific, but would it not be more accurate to declare that we wish our political theories to the technological. Professionals in the space of science now candidly admit that their emphasis on such notion are measurement, testing, and systems can best be interpreted as an attempt to direct the tools and media of contemporary technology to the goal of political knowledge as stated by Winner (1969).
Plato used kybernetes to refer to the art of government and in the nineteenth century
Andre Marie ampere coined the term cybernetique as a synonym for political science.
Cybernetics is applicable when a system being analyzed incorporates a closed signaling loop originally referred to as a "circular causal" relationship—that is, where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in the system in some manner (feedback) that triggers a system change. Its focus is how anything (digital, mechanical or biological) processes information, reacts to information and changes or can be changed to better accomplish the first two tasks. Cybernetics includes the study of feedback, black boxes and derived concepts such as communication and control in living organisms, machines and organizations including self-organization.
Studies in cybernetics provide a means for examining the design and function of any system, including social systems such as business management and organizational learning. Fields of study which have influenced or been influenced by cybernetics include game theory, system theory (a mathematical counterpart to cybernetics), perceptual control theory, sociology, psychology (especially neuropsychology, behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology), philosophy, architecture, and organizational theory.System dynamics, originated with applications of electrical engineering control theory to other kinds of simulation models
(especially business systems) by Jay Forrester at MIT in the 1950s, is a related field.
One might conclude from this that the choice of cybernetic as the conceptual root of political theory is merely another instance in which political science discovered something
37
twenty years late. Deutsch and others have been involved in applying the lesson of communication research in political problems since the early fifties Deutsch (1966).
Concepts studied by cyberneticists include, but are not limited to: learning, cognition, adaptation, social control, emergence, convergence, communication, efficiency, efficacy, and connectivity. In cybernetics these concepts (otherwise already objects of study in other disciplines such as biology and engineering) are abstracted from the context of the specific organism or device.
The primary justification of the adoption of a cybernetic perspective is found in the following assertion: what is truly essential to the life of a political system can be identified by observing the flow of messages within that system. Deutsch work is a plausible, imaginative and potentially fruitful approach to politics and there are a number of reasons why theorist might choose to view political reality in his term.
It should show the effect of specific facts and policies on the main values that man has held in western culture. Stated in terms of the cybernetic political theory; a value is a repetitive preference for a particular class of message or data that is to be received, transmitted or acted upon in preference to others.
Ostensibly a political system that can be accurately described in these terms would almost certainly be conservative if not totally static. Government in this view become the process of decision making and control which result when established values confront the output information. Politics, on the other hand, becomes the process of sending and receiving the output. In order to avoid the conservative overtones of this information, Deutsch provides a means for the system to be dynamic.
The growing complexity of the world has made the use of ICT for political and administrative purposes a desideratum. Accordingly, Winner (1969) argues that “in a world which has become increasingly complex and bureaucratized, „information‟ may well provide
38
a form of theoretical shorthand useful for the understanding of how regimes operate and how they tend to break down” (p. 3). The 21st century has been generally characterized as the
„electric‟ or „jet‟ age in order to underscore the pervasiveness of computer technology in different spheres of human existence. Hence, the practice of politics has increasingly involved the use of electronic mass media, mobile telephony and high-speed digital computers. As an activity in which men and machines participate hand-in-circuit, it is not surprising that the cybernetics model should become plausible as a basis for understanding electoral democracy. Men, machines, and political units all dispose of information from their environments in essentially the same manner. They act on certain varieties of messages and reject others. Progress has now been greatly accelerated by the use of digital computers as a new instrument for stating and testing theories. One of the earliest studies on voting decisions where the cybernetics model was applied is The American Voter where Angus Campbell led other researchers to give sophisticated accounts of how computer technology influences electoral processes.
It is pertinent to note that the model is designed to elucidate understanding of the desirability of achieving credible electoral democracy within the electronic womb of computer technology. Thus, advances in ICT, especially through various social media platforms, appreciably improved the transparency and credibility quotient of the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. Through Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry Messenger, YouTube, Skype, GSM,
SMS, among others, many voters, especially the youths, were mobilized and sensitized on the need for registering, collecting their PVCs and actually voting for candidates of their choice.
Moreover, these platforms were used to frustrate criminal attempts to disrupt elections in polling booths and collation centres.
According to Momodu (2014) he argues that relying on election rigging is becoming obsolete and increasingly difficult as social media and mobile telephone are
39
breaking down those walls that aided electoral malfeasance in the recent past. More significantly, the use of SCR― a digital computer-based authentication device― for verification of the biometric PVCs, accreditation of voters and counting of votes during the elections boosted the overall credibility of the exercise. The outcome of the March/April
2015 General Elections as a consequence of deployment of the anti-rigging device has restored the confidence of most Nigerian voters and international partners in INEC as well as accounted for the significant reduction in the volume of election petitions filed at the tribunals.
3.4. Hypotheses
The following hypotheses will guide this study:
1. The use of Biometric Card Reader in enhancing the Credibility of 2015 General
Elections in Nigeria.
2. The Voter and Biometric Authentication contributions to the victory of the APC in
the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.
3.5. Research design
This study adopted ex-post-facto research design, which is based on the examination of the independent and dependent variables after the events have taken place and the data already in existence. It is aimed at the discovery of possible causes for thebehavior by comparing the study participants in which the behavior is present with similarparticipants in when it is absent after the independent variable had occurred.In ex-post-factoresearch design, the test of hypothesis involves observing the independent and dependent variables at the same time because the effects of the former on the latter had already taken place before the investigation. Research design as the choice of an appropriate methodology for the research is crucial for the overall success of the project Alli (2016). Research is a logical drawing of inference from investigation of casual interactions between or among variables that are spelt
40
out for examination. Ex-post facto research design is also referred to as after the fact research. After the fact research is a category of research design which investigation starts after the fact has occurred without interference from the neither researcher, who neither can influence nor measure the occurrence of the facts. It makes use of data that are already collected, but does not necessarily assemble and store up for research purposes.
Obasi (1999) delineated two main types of research design: survey research design and experimental research design. He further sub-divides the survey research design into descriptive and ex-post facto research designs.
This study is based on the ex-post facto research design in which the hypothesis testing involves observing the independent and dependent variables at the same time because the effects of the former on the latter have already taken place before the investigation.
Cohen and Manion (1980) defined the ex-post facto research design as those studies which investigate possible cause-and-effect relationships by observing an existing condition and searching back in time for possible causal factor. This research design is represented thus: X1
------O------X2
Kerlinger and Rint in the context of social science research, an ex-post facto investigation seeks to reveal possible contributing factor. Marilyn K. Simon also sees ex-post facto as research that can be viewed as experimental research in reverse. Ex-post facto is a design that studies and investigates cause and effect relationship through observation of actions.
Cohen and Manihn (1980) further clarifies the phrase ex-post-facto means after thefact
“retrospectively” and refers to those studies which investigate possible cause andeffectrelationship by observing an existing condition and searching back in time for plausiblecausal factors. The ex-post-facto or single case designs assume the form of an experimentaldesign wherean existing case is observed for sometimes in order to study or evaluate it. Thesimple casedesign is represented as follows:
41
R B1 B2 B3 X A1 A2 A3
Where:
R= Random assignment of Subjects
B= Before Observation
A= After Observation
X= Independent Variable
Y = Dependent Variable
The analytical routine involved in testing the independent variable (X) and theDependentvariable (Y) is based on concomitant variation. This is to demonstrate that (X) isthe factor that determines (Y). This implies that whenever (X) occurs, there is the likelihoodthat (Y) will follow later. The criteria for interring causality have been summarized by Selltiz et al (1977:32) as follows:
• Co variation between the presumed cause and presumed effect.
• Proper time order with the cause preceding the effect.
• Elimination of plausible alternative explanations for the observed relationship.
From the research design discussed above it tried to show how the impact of biometric card reader, which are independent variables (x) have enhance the outcome of 2015 general election in Nigeria; which aredependent variables (Y). It can be seen from the foregoing thatwhile biometric card reader is one of the key major component used in the 2015 general to ensured the acceptance of the 2015 general election by electorate, local and international observers. This is despite the challenges encountered and witnessed by the introduction and testing of the technology in the 2015 general election. Our independent variable(X)greatly determined our dependent Variables (Y).
3.6. Methods of Data Collection
42
The study adopts documentary method of data collection. Data are gotten fromsecondary sources such as textbooks, journals, official documents, conference and seminar papers etc.
Secondary source of data refer to a set of data authored by another person, usually data from the available data, archives code books etc. The research also extensively utilized materials sourced from the internet that has to do with the same subject matter.
Furthermore, the study has both exploratory and explanatory in analysis, as it offer a causal explanation for theimpact biometric card reader had on the outcome of the 2015 General election in Nigeria.
3.7. Methods of Data Analysis
The qualitative descriptive method of data analysis was used for this research. Method of data analysis is concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular distinct, or a group in a study. It has to do primarily with summarizing the information generated in the research.
The study, while adopting the qualitative approach, utilises deductive-inductive logical reasoning and descriptive method of content analysis as the method of data analysis,which helps in the theoretical discourse and to validate the hypotheses. Using available datafrom secondary sources the study analyses the impact of biometric card reader on the outcome of the 2015 general election. This enabled us to infer and read meaning into our collected materials to give newinsight.
43
3.8 LOGICAL DATA FRAMEWORK ON THE IMPACT OF BIOMETRIC CARD READER ON THE OUTCOME OF 2015 GENERAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA Research hypothesis Major Variable Empirical indicator of variables Research Method of Method of S/NO question Independent design data data analysis collection
1. Did the use of The use of X Biometric card reader led This study Documentary Qualitative Biometric Biometric Card to the increase and adopted the method. Data descriptive Card Reader Reader in The use of reinforcement of public ex-post were analysis. enhance the enhancing the Biometric Card confidence and trust in the facto collected credibility of Credibility of Reader. electoral process. research from 2015 general 2015 General design. secondary elections in Elections in Biometric card reader sources. Nigeria? Nigeria. was used to verify the authenticity of the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
Biometric card reader was used to determine the accreditation figures essential for checking the credibility of the election results.
Biometric card reader was used to collect data such as age and gender, which has proved difficult in the past.
Biometric card reader was used to authenticate the
44
voter through finger print verification.
Biometric card reader was used to prepare voter registration form for data collection and management.
Biometric Card Readercreates a seamless process of election as errors will be limited and counting will be stress-free.
Biometric card reader constituted a registration database.
Biometric card reader was used to collect biometric digital date, pictures, finger prints and signatures.
Litigations arising from elections were reduced with the aid of Biometric card reader.
With the use of biometric card reader, the integrity and credibility of the elections were restored.
45
Biometric Card Reader allowed the legitimate electorates to votes and their vote counted.
Biometric Card Reader reduces electoral frauds in the elections like multiple voting and registration.
Biometric Card Reader ensured transparency and accountability by the electoral bodies. The electorates were Y registered using direct data The Credibility capturing machine. of 2015 General The electorates were Elections in prevented from voting more Nigeria. than once and unregistered voters from voting.
A complete and accurate voters list and register was established.
The use of biometric voter verification and authentication in the election.
46
Proper identification of voters using electronic devices.
The increased number of biometric card reader deployed during the 2015 general election.
The increased number of security personnel deployed during the election.
The introduction and use of Biometric Card Reader in 2015 general election. X 2. Did the Voter The Voter and The Voter and The Voter and Biometric This study Documentary Qualitative Authentication Biometric Biometric Authentication reduced adopted the method descriptive and Biometric Authentication Authentication. election rigging and ex-post analysis. Authentication contributions snatching of ballot boxes facto contribute to to the victory from polling units. research the victory of of the APC in design. APC in the the 2015 The Voter and Biometric 2015 General General Authentication were used to Elections in Elections in verify the eligibility of a Nigeria? Nigeria. voter during election.
Voter and Biometric Authentication were used to check the authenticity of the card and the owner.
47
Voter and Biometric Authentication ensure smoother transparent and credible election in Nigeria.
Voter and Biometric Authentication ensure a credible, transparent, free and fair election in order to deepen Nigeria electoral democracy.
Y The use of persons with The victory of integrity in the 2015 general APC in the election. 2015 General Elections in The merging of many Nigeria. political parties to form APC on February 6, 2013.
Widespread of frustration among Nigerians with Jonathan’s rule especially his government failure to contain Boko Haram.
The increasing desperation by youth due to high joblessness.
LOGICAL DATA FRAMEWORK ON THE IMPACT OF BIOMETRIC CARD READER ON THE OUTCOME OF 2015 GENERAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA.
48
CHAPTER FOUR
INTRODUCTION OF BIOMETRICS IN ELECTION
4:1 How Biometric Technologies Work
At their most basic level, biometric technologies arepattern recognition systems that use either imageacquisitiondevices, such as scanners or cameras in thecase of fingerprint or iris recognition technologies, orsound or movement acquisition devices, such as microphonesor platens in the case of voice recognition or signaturerecognition technologies, to collect the biometricpatterns or characteristics. The characteristics of the acquired samples considered the most distinctive betweenusers and the most stable for each user are extracted andencoded into a biometric reference or template that isa mathematical representation of a person’s biometricfeature. These templates are stored in a database or ona smart card or other token and used for comparisonwhen recognition is warranted. Biometric systems areautomated by hardware and software, allowing for fast,real-time decision making in identification situations.
Diagram 1: Features of smart card reader
49
Figure 1 Use of biometric data at polling stations
Different biometric technologies offer varying featuresand benefits, which should be analyzed based on howand why they will be used. They all vary in performance,capabilities, infrastructure requirements, and cost, andall have their unique limitations and operating methodologies.
Figure 2 Generic Biometric Processes.
50
Figure 3 Diagram of a “generic” biometric-based system.
While individual biometric devices and systems eachhave their own operating methodology, there are somegeneralizations that can be made as to what typicallyhappens within a biometric system implementation.
Figure: 4 Electorates, observers and officials during an election
Source: GenKey’s election record p2
51
Before an individual’s identity can be verified via a biometric,a biometric template or model must first be created.This template serves as the template data againstwhich subsequent samples/templates provided at timeof verification are compared. For some technologies, anumber of templates or images are typically capturedduring enrollment in order to create a truly representativetemplate via an averaging or best image candidateselection process. The template is then referencedagainst an identifier (typically a PIN or passcode if used inconjunction with existing access control tokens) in orderto recall it for comparison with a live sample at the transactionor entry point.
Figure 5: Block diagram for verification of voters
Here the identity of a person is Checked whether he\she belongs to the particular constituency or not.
Figure 6:Rejection of voter repetition
After we have emerged out with a solution to check voter’s identity in a constituency, our next task is to see that a particular person cannot vote more than once i.e. to 52
avoid multiple votes. This task can be accomplished by simple software technique employed.
It consists of two folders namely searched and unsearched. Initially the searched folder consists of no images. The thumb impression images of all the voters of a constituency will be present in the unsearched folder. As and when a vote is cast, the image of the particular voter gets transferred to the searched folder. The searched folder is programmed such that an image cannot be present more than once in this folder. So when a voter casts multiple votes the exception is generated and an alarm is raised and even the police can be informed about the identity of the intruder indulging in this illegal activity. This is shown in figure 5.
The scanned vote is first checked with the acceptability of the voter as explained in figure 5.
If the finger print is accessible then the data of the specified person is taken into account. The voter’s thumb impression is verified with the previously cast votes. If there is no match then the vote is accepted and the count is increased by one. If the vote matches with any of the previous votes then the vote is rejected and the person’s identity is stored and it is given to the police for further enquiry. There is a flash ROM in which these details can be stored.
The positive voter verification/identification of the subject during the enrollment procedure and quality of the resultant template or reference are critical factors in the overall success of a biometric application. The former refers to the corroborating identity documents
(commonly referred to as “breeder documents”) the user brings to the initial enrollment process. These documents, or other sources of validation, must undergo the highest scrutiny, unless the biometric may be associated with a false identity.
A poor quality template or reference can cause considerableproblems for the user, often resulting in re-enrollment.Template storage is an area of considerable andgrowing concern, particularly with large-scale applicationsthat may accommodate hundreds-of-thousands ofindividuals. The resources to assure the security, quality, maintenance, and management of
53
the data can be formidableand the liability, should the security of the templatesbe breached,
considerable.
Possible template storage options include:
1. Storing the template within the biometric reader device or PC has both advantages and
disadvantages, depending on exactly how it is implemented.
The advantage is potentially fast operation as a relatively small number of templates may be
stored and manipulated efficiently within the device or PC. In addition, there is no reliance on
an external process or data link to access to the template. In the event of device failure, an
alternative device or access point may be substituted as a temporary measure. In some cases
where devices may be networked together directly, it is possible to share templates across the
network.
The potential disadvantage is that templates may be somehow vulnerable and dependent upon
the devicebeing both present and functioning correctly. If anythinghappens to the device, the
template database mayneed to be re-installed or the user re-enrolled. For templatesstored on a
hard drive of a personal computer,damage to the disk drive or corrupted data may requirere-
enrollment of the user.
2. Storing the template in a central repository is the option that will most likely occur to IT
systems administrators. This may work well in a secure networked environment where there
is sufficient operational speed for template retrieval to be invisible to the users. Use of a
central data repository also allows more effective use through network-wide enrollment and
disenrollment.
While very large central databases raise other concerns discussed elsewhere in this manual,
they might be theonly efficient way to manage a large identity managementsystem. Care
should be taken in system design toensure the templates are protected when in transit overthe
network through encryption.
54
Potential disadvantages could be that with a large numberof readers working simultaneously,
there could besignificant data traffic, especially if users are impatientand submit multiple
verification/identification attempts.
The size of the biometric template itself will have someimpact on this issue, with popular
methodologies varyingbetween nine bytes and 6Kb. Another aspect to consideris if the
network fails, when the system effectively stopsunless there is reliable network backup or
some type ofadditional local/remote storage. This may be possible toimplement with some
devices using the internal storageon a device or PC for recent cached or localized users
andinstructing the system to search the central repository ifthe template cannot be found
locally.
3. Storing the template on a token is an attractive option for two reasons. First, it requires no
local or central storage of templates and, second, the user carries his/ her template with
him/her and can use it at any authorized reader device. The template could be stored in the
memory of the card or token device or even printed on a card or document in barcode format.
Potential disadvantages include the potential loss ordamage of the token and the resulting
need to re-enrollthe user.Additionally, if the user is attracted to the systembecause he/she
believes or was advised that he haseffective control and ownership of his own template,there
may be objections to also storing the templateselsewhere in the system. Another potential
disadvantagemay be unit cost and system complexity if chipcard/smart card readers and
biometric readers need tobe combined at each enrollment and verification station.
Finally, if the chip’s operating system and data are successfullyhacked, this option could be
vulnerable from a security standpoint.
4:2 Introduction of biometric card reader in election
55
Biometrics is the process by which a person’s unique physical and/or behavioural traits are used to confirm the identity of such electorate. The identifiers are distinctive and measurable characteristics used in identifying individuals checked. Physiological characteristics like fingerprint, palm veins, face recognition, DNA, palm print, hand geometry, iris recognition, retina, etc. Behavioural characteristics like typing rhythm, gait, voice recognition, signature pattern, etc Biometric technology is gaining ground by the day, as issues of identification, verification and authentication are on the increase –all sectors: Drivers’ license, international passports, ID cards, access controls, banking, etc
. Diagram1: The PVC (D2) SCR,Source: INEC Manual for 2015 Election
It should be recalled that past elections inNigeria had been bedeviled by desperate bid for politicalpower by some stakeholders or political gladiators withvested interests in the
Nigerian electoral process. Some ofthese stakeholders engaged in all forms of electoralmalpractices including multiple voting, impersonation,manipulation and falsification of results which had led tolegal actions, electoral conflicts and violence.
Electoral frauds make the citizens to lose confidencein the electoral process; and lack of confidence by thecitizenry in the democratic process is an impediment indeepening electoral democracy because if the citizenrydoes not believe in the fairness, accuracy, openness
56
andbasic integrity of the election process, the very basis ofany democratic society might be threatened.
Electoral fraud has more seriouspolitical implications, in that it allows a party or candidateto take over public positions contrary to the popular will.
This weakens the democratic process and usually leads toelectoral chaos, political instability and insecurity. Thegovernment of Cote d’Ivoire, Peru and Serbia all fell in theyear 2000 as a result of popular rebellions againstfraudulent elections. Similarly, the so called
"OrangeRevolution" in Ukraine in 2004 caused presidentialelections to be completely re-held after extensive fraud was demonstrated.
In view of the negative impacts of electoralmalpractices, global attention is now focusing on how tomitigate this undemocratic behavior and improve on theelectoral process. One of such strategies to combatelectoral malpractices is the introduction of informationand communication technology into the electoral process.
It was based on this assumption that card reader wasintroduced in the Nigeria electoral system in 2015 generalelection and it became the greatest innovative technologyin Nigeria electoral system.
4:3 Biometric Voting Machines and theacceptance by Stakeholders
As has been shown earlier, prior to the 2011 General Elections, election administrations in
Nigeria were fraught with monumental electoral irregularities. In the run up to the 2015
General Elections, many Nigerians and international development partners expressed doubts about the capacity of INEC to successfully conduct transparent, free, fair and credible elections. These doubts were necessitated by the prevalence of incendiary utterances and calumnious documentaries that targeted the personalities of the leading presidential candidates during the electioneering period. The bellicose rhetoric and hate speeches were seen as harbinger of election-related violence. Thus, in their separate reports, the
57
International Crisis Group, CLEEN Foundation and the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) predicted gloomy electoral outcomes for the country. In particular, the Foundation reported that Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Osun,
Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States were most volatile and prone to violence
(CLEEN Foundation, 2014). On the other hand, the Commission reported that “Lagos
(South-West), Kaduna (North-West) and Rivers (South-South) States present the three most worrying trends and locations predictive of a high likelihood of significant violence during the 2015 elections” (NHRC, 2015: 6).
Nonetheless, the above-average performance by the security agencies, success of civic education and the introduction of biometric devices by INEC built confidence and positive disposition of Nigerians, EOMs and development partners in the capacity of the Commission.
The disposition of many Nigerian voters towards the novel anti-rigging technology was amply demonstrated through their level of participation during the elections. This confidence was based on their conviction that their votes would not only be counted, but actually did count. In its interim report, the NDI (2015, p.2) notes that:
The elections highlighted strong and enthusiastic commitment of
Nigerians to democratic processes and the possibility of determining the
leadership of the country through peaceful, transparent and credible
elections.
Nigerian voters conducted themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner on election days and politicians across the spectrum should recognize and respect this public manifestation of citizens‟ commitment to the democratic process (p. 2).
58
An INEC official Mrs. Seye Soriyan, HOU ICT, INEC Lagos, Assisting Governor Babatunde Fashola, at Word G, 3, Idita zone, Itolo Street, Surulere, during the on-going Voters Registration Exercise in Lagos. Photo by BunmiAzeez.Sources:https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/2015-are-the-polls-really- credible-free-and-fair/
Although voters‟ turnout varied across different geo-political zones and polling units in the country, there were long queues of enthusiastic voters who conducted themselves in largely peaceful manner. In many instances, during the period before the arrival of poll workers and materials, citizen volunteers organized the crowd by handing out slips of paper with numbers in the order in which voters arrived so as to facilitate crowd control and orderly conduct once the accreditation process began (NDI, 2015). The report also indicates that high number of women and youth were well represented in voting lines on election days. In most cases, special consideration was given to pregnant and nursing women, the aged and persons with disabilities in order to facilitate speedy accreditation and voting. For the most part, in the polling sites in which card readers did not properly capture fingerprints, voters remained generally patient and calm. Even among those who were displaced through the coordinated attacks of Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, the desire to participate in the electoral process remained resonate. According to Election monitor (2015, p.82):
State with the highest voter turnout were Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa,
Delta and Jigawa all having above 60% voter turnout. The state with the
59
lowest voter turnout was Lagos State. Other states with relatively low
turnout of voters were Ogun, Edo, Anambra, Abia, Kogi, Borno and FCT
(30 to 39%). The national average voter turnout is 47% when considering
those who came out for accreditation.
Figure 7 The Table below shows the overall voters turnout from the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) during the 2015 Presidential & NASS Elections.
S/NO Names of No of No of Voters States Registered Accredited turnout voters voters 1 Abia 1,349,134 442,538 33 2 Adamawa 1,518,123 709,993 47 3 Akwa Ibom 1,644,481 1,074,070 65 4 Anambra 1,963,427 774,430 39 5 Bauchi 2,053,484 1,094,069 53 6 Bayelsa 605,637 384,789 64 7 Benue 1,893,596 754,634 40 8 Borno 1,799,669 544,759 30 9 Cross River 1,144,288 500,577 44 10 Delta 2,044,372 1,350,914 66 11 Ebonyi 1,071,226 425,301 40 12 Edo 1,650,552 599,166 36 13 Ekiti 723,255 323,739 45 14 Enugu 1,381,563 616,112 45 15 Gombe 1,110,105 515,828 46 16 Imo 1,747,681 801,712 46 17 Jigawa 1,815,839 1,153,428 64 18 Kaduna 3,361,793 1,746,031 52 19 Kano 4,943,862 2,364,434 48 20 Kastina 2,842,741 1,578,646 56 21 Kebbi 1,457,763 792,817 54 22 Kogi 1,350,883 476,839 35 23 Kwara 1,181,032 489,360 41 24 Lagos 5,827,846 1,678,754 29 25 Nasarawa 1,222,054 562,959 46 26 Niger 1,995,679 933,607 47 27 Ogun 1,709,409 594,975 35 28 Ondo 1,501,549 618,040 41
60
29 Osun 1,378,113 683,169 50 30 Oyo 2,344,448 1,073,849 46 31 Plateau 1,977,211 1,076,833 54 32 Rivers 2,324,300 1,643,409 71 33 Sokoto 1,663,127 988,899 59 34 Taraba 1,374,307 638,578 46 35 Yobe 1,077,942 520,127 48 36 Zamfara 1,484,941 875,049 59 37 FCT 886,573 344,056 39 TOTAL 67,422,005 31,746,490 1759
Source: Adapted from Election Monitor (2015) General Elections observation report. A Publication of Election Monitor.
Election Monitor further reports that on a geo-political zone basis, the South-South had the greatest voter turnout with 59% closely followed by the North-West with 54%. The South-
West had the lowest turnout in the country with just 37%. Expectedly, the regions that produced the two leading presidential candidates had the two highest levels of voters‟ turnout. The average national voters‟ turnout in the 2015 General Elections was 47%. In relation to the average voters‟ turnout of 52.2%, 64.8%, 57.2% and 52% for 1999, 2003,
2007 and 2011 respectively, it is evident that voters‟ turnout has been falling while voter registration has been increasing. However, figures for previous voters‟ turnouts are actually inaccurate due to fraud and manipulation that characterized the elections.
Moreover, reports from accredited domestic and international EOMs unanimously described the elections as peaceful and generally credible. Among others, the observers attributed the credibility of the elections to INEC‟s insistence on the use of the PVCs and SCR for the elections. The observers particularly applauded Nigerian voters for their maturity, orderliness and commitment towards the success of the polls. According to the Commonwealth EOM‟s report, the elections mark an important step forward for democracy in Africa’s most populous country and a key member of the Commonwealth. Notwithstanding the organizational and technical deficiencies, the conduct of the elections was generally peaceful and transparent
61
(Ndujihe & Kumolu, 2015). In the same vein, the former Ghanaian President and Head,
ECOWAS EOM, Mr. John Kufuor, reports that Nigeria’s feat with regard to the elections is a pride, not only to Nigerians, but also to West Africa and the whole of the African continent.
Similarly, the United States Government notes that the peaceful conduct of the elections had demonstrated to the world the strength of Nigeria’s commitment to democratic principles. By turning out in large numbers, and sometimes waiting all day to cast their votes, Nigerians have come together to decide the future of their country peacefully (Adamu, 2015). President
Barrack Obama particularly praised INEC and Professor Jega for what independent international observers deemed largely peaceful and orderly elections. Thus, the president of
Voters‟ Awareness Initiative, Wale Ogunade, surmised that INEC Chairman and his team have gained 80% confidence of Nigerians as a result of the deployment of technology-based approach in handling the elections (Sunday Independent, April 26, 2015).
As a corollary, the principal genres of development partners that work with
INEC, through their EOMs, equally affirmed the credibility of the elections. The Commission is fortunate to work with these partners in pursuit of its onerous primary objective of conducting free, fair and credible elections. The bulk of supports from these partners are found in four main areas namely: technical assistance, support for training, experience sharing and support for retreats.
Arising from the EOMs‟ unanimous acclamation of the outcome of the 2015 General
Elections, these international development partners not only repose more confidence in INEC and Nigeria’s elections but are keener to partner with the Commission in order to ensure that future elections in the country are truly free, fair and credible. Moreover, the goodwill gesture of some of these development partners to Nigeria has been demonstrated through the request of the Group of Seven (G-7) most industrialized countries asking General Muhammadu
Buhari to prepare a „wish list‟ and come with it for its consideration during its 41st Summit
62
held between June 7 and 8, 2015 in Bavaria. Thus, the Outreach Programme for invited heads of government and global institutions offered President Buhari the opportunity to meet with
Angela Merkel, Barrack Obama, Francois Hollande, David Cameron, Stephen Harper, Shinzo
Abe, Jim Yong Kim, Ban Ki Moon, Angel Gurria, Christine Lagarde and Guy Rider of
Germany, USA, France, UK, Canada, Japan, the World Bank Group, the United Nations, the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organization respectively. Needless to say, this gesture is a demonstration of these partners‟ confidences in the electoral process that produced the present government in Nigeria.
4:4 Global use of biometrics in elections
Biometrics is the constantly developed branch of science. More and more convenient and reliable technologies allow using biometrics in common life making it easier and interesting.Almost every country in the world has adopted biometric in their election, but not everyone knows what information it contains, for what purpose it is used for.
In a biometric verification system, an individual claims an identity, for example by providing a name and date of birth. The individual’s biometric features are captured and compared to previously captured and confirmed biometric features of that individual. Such a one-to-one comparison determines whether the individual is indeed who they claim to be.
In a biometric identification system, the individual does not need to claim an identity. His or her biometric features are captured and compared to the features of all previously captured biometric features stored in a biometric database.
The use of biometrics card reader is not new in election. The first fingerprint catalogues of known criminals were established in the second half of the 19th century for the use of police investigators and criminal courts (National Institute of Justice 2011). The second half of the
20th century saw further advances in the development of automated biometric identification
63
systems (Jain, FlynRen and Ross 2008). In recent years, the application of biometric technologies has expanded rapidly in diverse fields such as access control, border security, citizen registration, passports and identification cards, and elections (Das 2016).
2015 Presidential & National Assembly Elections
Election Date March 28, 2015
Total Polling Units Received 98,489
Total Accreditations 23,643,479
Full-Biometric Authentication 10,266,139
Card-Only Authentication 13,377,340
% Success – Full Biometric 43
% Failed – Card Only Biometric 57 Total Votes Cast (Declared Result) 29,432,083 % Voters that were accredited with SCRs 80
4:5 Uses of Biometrics in African
The more general use of biometric in African elections is on the rise. No fewer than 25 sub-
Saharan African countries (e.g. Sierra-Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia,
Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Somaliland, Mali, Togo, Ghana etc.) have already held elections employing a biometric voter register (Piccolino, 2015). The Automated Fingerprint
Identification System was used in the 2011 general elections as a digital register to eliminate doubles from the list, and was not capable of verifying the identity of voters at the polling stations (Piccolino, 2015).
Nigeria, which is the sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy and home to almost 180 million people, hold their elections on March 28, a six-week delay after its initial date. Every
Nigerian voter is supposed to receive a permanent voter card, which stores biometric information such as fingerprints and facial image. At the polls, the voters will present their
64
cards and a voter card reader will verify their name on the voter roll and the authenticity of the card.Nigeria has used the Automated Fingerprint Identification System since the 2011 polls. But in 2011, the system only created a digital register to eliminate doubles from the list, and was not capable of verifying the identity of voters at the polling stations. The INEC argues that these new features will bring additional benefits, especially in preventing double votes and ballot stuffing. The Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission wants to replace traditional methods to identify with electronic voter card readers. Nigeria is taking a risky bet, given that not many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have employed biometrics to verify voters’ identity on Election Day.
In 2012, Ghana implemented an even more sophisticated system, where polling stations were equipped with fingerprint scanners. Kenya tried to do the same in 2013, but the result was a spectacular fiasco. The voter population that Nigeria must manage is much larger than the one in Ghana; moreover, Ghana’s Electoral Commission is known for its strength, professionalism and integrity.
The more general use of biometrics in African elections is on the rise. No fewer than 25 sub-
Saharan African countries (including the non-recognized state of Somaliland) have already held elections employing a biometric voter register. And other countries are currently planning to do so. Many sub-Saharan African countries (and the non-recognized state of
Somaliland) have already held an election using some form of biometric technology.
Additional many other countries has employed biometric technology for civil registration and general identification. Biometric technology is costly.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the French enterprise SAGEM received $266 million for the production of biometric identity cards for the 2010 elections. Côte d’Ivoire’s voting population is fewer than 6 million people, meaning the cost of a biometric identity card was more than $44 per voter. Biometric technology and associated equipment have absorbed the largest share of the
65
cost of elections in numerous countries. The financial burden has fallen on the shoulders of
African governments and donors, and has enriched the oligopolistic identification technology market.
A recurrent argument for introducing biometrics is that it would not only reduce fraud and make elections ‘cleaner,’ but it would also make contested election results and electoral violence less likely.Political scientists have only recently begun to look at the technical and administrative dimension of elections. Because in the West, the consolidation of the administrative apparatus of the state preceded the introduction of democracy, many there take for granted the existence of systems that register and identify citizens, upon which electoral management bodies can rely. This assumption is wrong for most African states: a large share of the population in these countries is not even registered at birth.
A recent report by the Electoral Integrity Project found voter registration the third most problematic component of the electoral process worldwide. Almost every African election is accompanied by polemics about the reliability of the voter register, allegations of double voting and votes by minors and foreigners. It’s no wonder electoral commissions are looking for ways to address these concerns. However, the faith currently placed in technology could be misplaced. The introduction of high tech solutions can indeed help with some problems, such as double registration and double voting. But technology offers no solution for other issues and can even generate new problems.
In Ghana, biometrics was important in restoring the public’s confidence in the electoral process after the controversial 2008 elections. However, when they were first used in 2012, the Electoral Commission had to extend voting by one day following the failure of some verification machines. Researchers have found that voting machine breakdowns had suspicious patterns. Biometrics did not prevent the losing New Patriotic Party from contesting, albeit peacefully, the election’s results.
66
In Côte d’Ivoire the employment of biometrics, coupled with more stringent administrative requirements to prove one’s nationality, appeared necessary to address a long war of ‘who is who’ about citizenship and voting rights. However, these changes in voting requirements did not prevent incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo from refusing to recognize the electoral results, and the country relapsed into violence. My research also documents how the insistence on verifying voters’ nationality in the 2010 elections ultimately led to the exclusion of many voters from the register.
In Benin, the new voter registration system has become a battlefield between the majority and opposition, and difficulties are still ongoing as the voter roll is corrected (The most up-to-date source is the Facebook page of the Benin agency in charge of correcting the voter roll).
4:6Key steps in introducing biometric card reader
There are many recent examples where the introduction of electoral technologies created serious problems, including delays and the disenfranchisement of voters. Such cases are often due to poor planning and short implementation timelines. Difficulties can be expected to arise when rolling out new registration systems in less than a year, especially on a national scale.Some of the Key stages for introducing biometric technologies in a country include some of the following:
Needs assessment: This stage is for developing a clear understanding of goals and stakeholder expectations:
Can they realistically be met?
What is the level of stakeholder support?
To understand what is needed, any assessment should also include a review of existing procedures to identify shortcomings: which, if any, biometric solutions have the most potential for improvement? What problems is the biometric technology supposed to address?
67
Feasibility studies: At this stage, system options and alternatives are considered: which ones are the best fit in terms of costs, infrastructure and sustainability? Will there be any negative impact on voters? If so, how can it be mitigated? This phase also includes a demonstration and evaluation of solutions available on the domesticand international market and the development of technical specifications forthe most suitable system.
Securing funding: The use of biometric technology for elections requires substantial funding.This stage assesses whether the required funding for a biometric system canbe secured in the short term for the initial rollout of the system as well as inthe long term for future elections. It also needs to ensure that the requiredfunding will be available on time so that financial matters do not delay projectimplementation.
Reviewing legislation: Electoral laws, registration and voting procedures need to be reviewed andprobably updated. Attention should be paid not only to new regulations, butalso to existing legislation that has to be adhered to or that may becomeobsolete through the use of new technologies. Data protection legislationrequires specific attention, as biometric voter registration databases store sensitive personal information about millions of citizens.
Pilot projects, mock registration exercises: New technologies are best piloted in smaller elections before a full national rollout. Such a gradual introduction makes it possible to gain important experienceand makes it easier to maintain the old system as a fallback option.
Procurement: The time it takes to procure, produce and import new voting technologies is often underestimated. When procurement takes longer than anticipated andthe Election Day is set, there is often not enough time for the system rollout.
Distribution of equipment, installation and testing: It is essential to allow sufficient time for proper system installation and testing under field conditions. Many technology failures are rooted in insufficient testing due to time pressures.
68
Recruitment and training of voter registration staff: For the successful deployment of technology, well-trained staff is essential.
While expertise at the central level may already be available, many registration staff usually needs to be recruited in the field.
Voter information: A well-informed electorate is essential for a successful and smooth registration process, for widespread participation, and ultimately for achieving high registration rates and thus an inclusive voter register.
Timelines: How long the introduction of biometric technologies takes greatly depends onthe exact context, legal framework and needs. However, comparing variouscountry experiences, it is recommended that initial preparations begin at least18 to 24 months before an election. A typical timeline could be:
Six or more months for procurement, tendering, vendor selection andcontracting. As
these initial steps often take longer than planned, ample time buffers are
recommended.
Two to four months for the production and delivery of equipment, testing and
deployment.
One to six months for the field registration process. Obviously, increasing the number
of registration kits will speed up the registration process, but this will also increase
related costs.
Two to three months for data processing, deduplication, and establishingand
displaying preliminary voter lists, adjudication of appeals.
Two to three months for printing voter ID cards, and printing anddistributing voter
lists, finishing about one month before the election.
Implementation:
69
Confident that the machines will perform effectively based on the outcome of the test-run,
INEC went ahead to implement the use of card readers for the 2015 general elections. INEC officials were trained on the use of card reader and the machines were supplied to all polling units across the country. During the elections, INEC insisted on the use of card readers for accreditation across all polling units and the machines were actually used for accreditation.
Although they were successfully used in some polling units, some had challenges, which
INEC attributed to both technical and human errors (ThisdayLive,April 23 2015).
Some of the diagrams that explains the biometric.
Diagram 1: Types of biometrics.
Diagram 2: Retina scanning.
70
Diagram 3: Iris
Diagram 4a: Finger tip.
Diagram 4b: Fingerprint matching mechanism
71
Diagram 5: Automatic face recognition system.
Diagram 6: Hand/Palm-print and hand/palm-print features.
Diagram 7: Signature scanning.
Source of diagram 1-7:Kalyani (2017) Various Biometric Authentication Techniques: A Review Journal of Biometrics & Biostatistics 8:5 DOI: 10.4172/2155-6180.1000371.
72
CHAPTER FIVE
BIOMETRIC CARD READER AND THE CREDIBILITY OF 2015 GENERAL
ELECTION
The major preoccupation of this section is to empirically demonstrate whether the adoption ofthe use of Biometric Card Reader in 2015 General Elections in Nigeria enhanced the
Credibility.
5:1 Card Reading Machine and 2015 General Elections
For the first time in Nigeria’s electoral history, electronic voter authentication system, with the aid of smart card readers, is being deployed for the 2015 general elections. Using Card
Readers has enormous merits, which include: Once configured, the Card Reader can only read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) issued by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC). Any person that shows up at the polling unit without PVC or with a card not issued by INEC will not be able to vote. The Card Reader reads the embedded chip on the PVC, not the barcode, and it shares a secret code with the PVC; thus it is impossible to falsify the cards. The Card Reader authenticates the identity of the voter by cross matching his/ her fingerprints with that stored on the embedded chip. No person can vote using another person’s PVC.
Importantly to note that the key differences between 2015 general elections and past elections was the introduction and widely publicized use of the card reader by the INEC. This device was part of the registration and authentication of duly registered voters those who had
Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and who ultimately participated in Election Day. The card reader had been promoted by INEC as an anti-electoral fraud device and was introduced to enhance the integrity of the voting process and dissuade multiple voting (as only duly accredited and verified PVC holders could vote). The card readers were also programmed to work for specific polling units. This meant that PVCs could not be used in multiple polling
73
units. Despite the pockets of challenges concerning its use, which included possible battery failures to power the device and timeliness issues in verifying PVC holders and how many voters could be covered within the accreditation process, Nigerians were generally optimistic that the readers would positively impact the voting process. Sadly, technical hitches were still recorded. These complications ranged from simple issues, such as the lack (or poor) understanding among INEC’s ad-hoc staff on the need to remove film covering from the screen of the device which facilitates better fingerprint decoding, to the outright malfunction or failure of the card readers themselves.
Particularly to note, was the failure of the card readers to recognize President
Goodluck Jonathan’s card, which was quite embarrassing for the incumbent leader. After four repeated trials and failures, Goodluck was accredited to vote manually in line with stipulated
INEC procedure i.e. filling the incidence form. But the media soon caught wind, and there were a range of reports circulating about similar card reader and finger recognition challenges nationwide. This prompted the INEC to instruct those polling units that were experiencing card reading challenges to immediately revert to the old system of manual accreditation. The announcement seemed to have eased accreditation in these places; however the extent to which this announcement may have inadvertently opened the flood gates for electoral fraud is yet to be fully analyzed.
Another vital point to note is that the Card reader keeps a tally of all cards read, comprising the details of all voters verified as well as those not verified, and transmits the collected information to a central INEC server via GSM data service. Information transmitted to the server will enable INEC to audit results from polling units, as well as do a range of statistical analysis of the demographics of voting. Collation officers will also be able to use information transmitted by the Card Reader to audit polling unit result sheets and determine whether accreditation figures have been altered.
74
Figure1: INEC Official explaining the Voting Process to voters on Election Day
Figure2: APO II hands vertically folded ballot Paper to the Voter
Source: Report on Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections 28 March & 11 April 2015 Pg12 INEC Official explaining the Voting Process to voters on Election Day and INEC Manuel for election officials 2015 updated version Pg45.
According to Amenaghawon (2015), the card reader was part of the registration and authentication of duly registered voters – those who had Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) – and who ultimately participated in Election Day. The card reader had been promoted by
INEC as an anti-electoral fraud device and was introduced to enhance the integrity of the voting process and dissuade multiple voting (as only duly accredited and verified PVC holders could vote). The card readers were also programmed to work for specific polling units. This meant that PVCs could not be used in multiple polling units (Amenaghawon,
2015).
Despite the pockets of challenges concerning its use, which included possible battery failures to power the device and timeliness issues in verifying PVC holders and how many voters could be covered within the accreditation process, Nigerians were generally optimistic that the readers would positively impact the voting process. Sadly, technical hitches were still recorded. These complications ranged from simple issues, such as the lack (or poor) understanding among INEC’s ad-hoc staff on the need to remove film covering from the
75
screen of the device which facilitates better fingerprint decoding, to the outright malfunction or failure of the card readers themselves. Of particular note was the failure of the some card readers to recognize President Goodluck Jonathan’s card, which was quite embarrassing for the incumbent leader. After four repeated trials and failures, Goodluck was accredited to vote manually in line with stipulated INEC procedure – i.e. filling the incidence form. But the media soon caught wind, and there were a range of reports circulating about similar card reader and finger recognition challenges nationwide.
This prompted the INEC to instruct those polling units that were experiencing card reading challenges to immediately revert to the old system of manual accreditation.The announcement seemed to have eased accreditation in these places; however the extent to which this announcement may have inadvertently opened the flood gates for electoral fraud by some politicians and polling officials. There were further allegations of voter list mark- up’s (manipulation) and ghost voting (electoral fraud), even though, according to the INEC, the card readers functioned in 99% of polling units nationwide ( Ekuwem, 2015). While this is a very high reliability factor, a number of aggrieved candidates and their parties were still contesting procedures. The card reader challenges, as well as incidences of late arrival of
INEC staff and commencement of accreditation, dragged the voting process well into the night (and even the next day in some polling units across the country). Three hundred polling units had their voting postponed to that following Sunday (Ekuwem, 2015).
5:2 Impact of Biometric Card Reader and the credibility of 2015 General Elections
The technology was a critical component in the 2015 general elections. It was used for the first time in Nigeria’s electoral process in 2011 and it remains one of the greatest innovative technologies in the 2015 general elections.
Past elections in Nigeria had witnessed the desperate bid for political power by some stakeholders with vested interests in the Nigerian electoral process. Some of these
76
stakeholders engaged in all forms of electoral malpractices including multiple voting, impersonation, manipulation and falsification of results which had led to legal actions, electoral conflicts and violence.
In view of the negative impacts of electoral malpractices, global attention is now focusing on how to mitigate this undemocratic behavior and improve the electoral process. One of such strategies to combat electoral malpractices is the introduction of information and communication technology into the electoral process. Though, the use of technology in elections is not an end in itself, but assists in the various aspects of electoral administration
(ACE Project). It is against this background that an electronic technologically based device, the smart card reader was introduced into the Nigerian electoral process in 2015 to help improve and deepen electoral democracy.
Thus the ability of the card reader to perform the above described functions as well as keeping a tally of the total numbers of voters accredited at the polling unit and forwarding the information to a central database server over a Global System for Mobile (GSM) network makes the card reader most welcome at this point in time in the nation's electoral history
(Engineering Network Team, 2015).
Meanwhile, the proponent of the device according to Peters (2015) believed that the card reader procedure has the capacity to prevent or minimize rigging in the sense that there would not be multiple voting while the opponents believed that in the peculiar circumstances of the Nigerian situation, the card reader is designed to assist a certain political party to win the general election.
The card reader technology did not only reduce election rigging and snatching of ballot boxes from polling units, but also enhanced speedy and accurate electoral processes during accreditation of voters. Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Group, Dr. Emmanuel
Ekuwem, told THISDAY that the use of card reader machines for the 2015 general elections
77
has proved that INEC could conduct credible elections with minimal complaints (Thisday
Live, 2015).
Table 1: Distribution of Smart Card Readers Nationwide
S/NO State No of PUs SCR Allocation of SCRs
Backup SCRs Received
1. Abia 2,675 552 3,739 3,739
2. Adamawa 2,608 675 4,049 4,049
3. Akwa Ibom 2,980 987 4,637 4,101
4. Anambra 4,608 978 6,111 6,111
5. Bauchi 4,074 636 5,385 5,385
6. Bayelsa 1,804 315 2,235 2,235
7. Benue 3,688 828 5,178 5,178
8. Borno 3,933 936 5,294 5,294
9. Cross River 2,283 579 3,300 3,300
10. Delta 3,624 810 5,688 5,688
11. Ebonyi 1,785 513 2,806 2,806
12. Edo 2,627 576 4,355 4,355
13. Ekiti 2,195 531 2,842 2,842
14. Enugu 2,958 780 4,141 4,141
15. FCT 562 186 2,072 2,072
16. Gombe 2,218 342 2,913 2,913
17. Imo 3,523 915 5,015 5,015
18. Jigawa 3,527 861 4,946 4,946
19. Kaduna 5,101 765 7,804 7,804
78
20. Kano 8,074 1,452 11,838 11,838
21. Katsina 4,901 1,083 7,033 7,033
22. Kebbi 2,398 675 3,855 3,855
23. Kogi 2,548 717 3,786 3,786
24. Kwara 1,872 579 3,091 3,091
25. Lagos 8,462 735 12,859 12,859
26. Nasarawa 1,495 441 2,994 2,994
27. Niger 3,185 822 5,114 5,114
28. Ogun 3,213 708 4,718 4,718
29. Ondo 3,009 609 4,162 4,162
30. Osun 3,010 996 4,375 4,375
31. Oyo 4,783 1,053 6,673 6,673
32. Plateau 2,631 621 4,662 4,662
33. Rivers 4,442 957 6,795 6,795
34. Sokoto 3,035 732 4,299 4,299
35. Taraba 1,912 504 3,266 3,266
36. Yobe 1,714 534 2,857 2,857
37. Zamfara 2,516 441 3,571 3,571
38. Total 119,973 26,427 178,458 177,922
Adopted from INEC 2015 General Elections Report.
The use of card readers for elections is highly commendable because it has helped to reduce election fraud like multiple registrations and multiple voting. With the card readers, the true identities of card holders were matched with the details contained in their permanent voter's cards (PVCs), during accreditation and the process helped in reducing fraudulent accreditation that marred electoral processes in the past," (Ekuwem, 2015). He advised INEC
79
to continue to explore the power of technology in subsequent elections, and called on the electoral body to create a backend database that is linked with the card readers in order to give voters the opportunity to vote from anywhere in the country, using their PVC, instead of restricting them to vote only in their registration centers. He advised INEC to apply the technology of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) cards issued by banks, which allows card holders to withdraw cash from any bank that is located anywhere in the country.
The smart card reader also improves the process of collating and announcing the result and makes the contender who has been announced as a looser to imbibe the culture of immediate congratulating of the announced winners.
A critical examination of the electionshowed that the introduction of card reader into thesystem generated fear in the mindset of politicians whohave criminal tendencies and boosted public confidenceand trust in the electoral process. The public confidencelies on the credibility and integrity of an election whichthe 2015 presidential election appears to have.
After the election, majority of Nigerians believed thattheir votes would count and as such their rights could berespected in future elections; and this has stimulated thelegitimacy of democratic process in Nigeria unlike before.
Undoubtedly, the machine checked the undemocraticattitudes of some politicians in polling booth such as, stuffing ballot box with ballot papers, snatching of ballotbox and reduced the number of multiple voting at pollingstationwhich altogether constitute electoral fraud, ormalpractice that had been the bane of Nigeria politicalsystem.
Coincidentally, litigations were reduced to the barestminimum as a departure from the past where everyelection outcome is being contested at the electiontribunal. Most of the candidates that lost in the 2015general elections did not challenge the outcome. Some ofthe major contenders that did not win in the electionaccepted defeat and congratulated the winners. Forinstance, the presidential candidate of PDP (Goodluck Ebere Jonathan)
80
congratulated the APC presidential candidate (Muhammadu Buhari) the winner of the presidential election, the Ishielu and Ezza North (federalconstituency) house of representative candidate of APCcongratulated the PDP house of representative candidatethe winner of the election. This attitude cut across statesof the federation in the governorship and house ofassembly elections.
Besides, electoral conflicts and violence were veryminimal as the election was seen to be transparent andcredible due to the use of the card reader. The excessiveand pointless attacking and degrading between theelection winners and losers in past electoral contest wassignificantly reduced. In view of the minimal level ofelectoral fraud due to the use of the card reader, tensionswere reduced among the political gladiators and electoralviolence diminished. Moreover, it strengthens thedemocratic institutions and increased Nigeria democraticcapacity and by extension, made Nigerians and itsinstitution to assimilate the knowledge needed to conductcredible, free and fair election so as to deepen ourdemocratic process and protect our image abroad.
Source: Giulia Piccolino (2015), German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
81
5:3 Technologies and the Credibility of 2015 General Elections in Nigeria
The 2015 General Elections in Nigeria was the 5th quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999. The successful conduct of the 2011 General Elections marked a watershed in Nigeria’s democratic trajectory, as it contrasted sharply with the mismanagement and widespread fraud of previous polls. At the end of the voter registration exercise in 2011, INEC had claimed that a total of 73 million Nigerians had registered out of which the Automated Fingerprint Identification System had removed 800,000 persons for double registration (Aziken, 2015). Thus, determined to improve the outcome of the 2011 polls, INEC introduced technological innovations which were used to curb electoral fraud.
These included a biometric PVC and card reader machine used to verify the authenticity of the PVC and also carry out a verification of the intending voter by matching the biometrics obtained from the voter on the spot with the ones stored on the PVC. The 2011 voters‟ registerNigeria’s first electronically compiled register― helped in the production of the
PVCs that were used in the 2015 General Elections. The card reader is designed to read biometric information in the embedded chip of the PVC. It displays voters‟ names and facial images, and authenticates their fingerprints. The deployment of the device ensured that each elector only voted in the ward where he or she was registered. Although technology does not offer solution to all forms of electoral malpractice, the use of the SCRs made it more difficult to brazenly rig the 2015 General Elections.
However, on March 7, 2015, INEC test-ran the reliability of the biometric technology in 225 out of the total 120,000 polling units and 358 out of the 155,000 voting centres that were used for the elections (Idowu, 2015). The test-run of the device took place in 12 states namely: Rivers and Delta (South-South), Kano and Kebbi (North-West), Anambra and
Ebonyi (South East), Ekiti and Lagos (South West), Bauchi and Taraba (North East) as well as Niger and Nasarawa (North Central). While acknowledging the challenges of the device in
82
confirming fingerprints, the Commission expressed satisfaction that the basic duty of the card reader to authenticate the genuineness of PVCs was in almost all cases achieved. According to a press release by Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, the decision to deploy SCRs for the 2015 General Elections have four main objectives.
To verify PVCs presented by voters at polling units and ensure that they are genuine,
INEC-issued (not cloned) cards. From the reports on Saturday’s exercise, this
objective was achieved 100%.
To biometrically authenticate the person who presents PVC at the polling unit and
ensure that he/she is the legitimate holder of the card. In this regard, there were a few
issues in some states during the public demonstration. Overall, 59% of voters who
turned out for the demonstration had their fingerprints successfully authenticated.
To provide disaggregated data of accredited voters in male/female and elderly/youth
categories― a disaggregation that is vital for research and planning purposes, but
which INEC until now had been unable to achieve. The demonstration fully served
this objective.
To send the data of all accredited voters to INEC‟s central server, equipping the Commission to be able to audit figures subsequently filed by polling officials at the polling units and, thereby, be able to determine if fraudulent alterations were made. The public demonstration also succeeded wholly in this regard (Idowu, 2015 http://inecnigeria.org/inecnews).
As a consequence of the 41% failure rate in (ii) above, the Commission, in agreement with registered political parties, provided that where biometric authentication of a legitimate holder of a genuine PVC becomes challenging, there could be physical authentication of the person and completion of an Incident Form, to allow the person to vote. Responding to opposition to the use of the biometric technology, Mohammed notes that:
Nigerians have sacrificed all they can to obtain their PVCs, which are now their most-prized possession. They have also hailed the plan by INEC to use the card reader to give Nigeria
83
credible polls. Only dishonest politicians, those who plan to rig, those who have engaged in a massive purchase of PVCs and those who have something to hide are opposed to use of the machine (cited in Adeyemi, Abubakar & Jimoh, The Guardian, March 5, 2015).
In corroboration, Professor Jega (as cited in Oche, 2015) maintains that it was only those that hitherto nurtured plans to fraudulently manipulate the outcome of the elections that were crying foul over the introduction of the technology.
As observed earlier, the use of the biometric machine during the elections was characterized by malfunctions. These ranged from limited or non-verification of voters‟ fingerprints even after authenticating their PVCs, slow accreditation process as a result of poor internet server operations in some locations to inadequate knowledge of the use of card readers by both
INEC officials and voters. These hitches were more rampant during the March 28
Presidential and NASS Elections because some of the polling officers were handling the machine for the first time and failed to peel off the nylon films covers of the lenses to enable accurate biometric reading. Thus, the March 28 elections were characterized by situations whereby:
Electronic readers of biometric PVCs failed to verify fingerprints in many
instances and resulted in delays in voter accreditation in a high number of
polling stations. Where fingerprint scanning failed, there did not appear to
be uniform understanding of contingency planning among polling
officials, including requirements for large-scale manual verification of
voters' identities against the printed voter registry and the issuance of
Incident Forms. When Incident Forms were diligently completed by
INEC officials, accreditation was often delayed even further due to the
time required to fill out a form for each voter whose fingerprints could not
be read (NDI, 2015, p. 3).
84
Most of the hitches as reported by Election Monitor characterized the Presidential and NASS Elections. INEC as an institution improved significantly from the March 28 to the
April 11 elections in the area of logistics, materials provision and mastery of the biometric technology by polling officers. The Commission was able to correct its mistakes of March 28 to deliver freer, fairer and more credible Governorship and SASS Elections. With particular reference to the South-West geo-political zone, the failure rate of SCRs dropped significantly after the Presidential and NASS Elections.
Therefore, the use of the biometric technologies did not entirely make the elections free and fair, they however, accounted for their credibility. Despite challenges, especially in fingerprint verification, the card readers contributed in curbing electoral fraud. In his post- election assessment, Professor Jega maintained that:
We have made rigging impossible for them (electoral fraudsters) as there
is no how the total number of votes cast at the polling unit could exceed
the number of accredited persons. Such discrepancy in figures will be
immediately spotted. This technology made it impossible for any corrupt
electoral officer to connive with any politician to pad-up results. The
information stored in both the card readers and the result sheets taken to
the ward levels would be retrieved once there is evidence of tampering
(Cited in Oche, Leadership, April 5, 2015, p.25).
The credibility of the elections, arising from the use of the anti-rigging technology, is also deducible from the fact that it is the first time in the electoral annals of Nigeria that many candidates would concede defeat and call to congratulate the winners. This happened first at the national level when President Goodluck Jonathan called to congratulate General
MuhammaduBuhari on March 31, 2015. This exemplary conduct was emulated by defeated
85
PDP governorship candidates in Niger, Benue, Adamawa, Lagos, Kaduna and Oyo States. It was also the first time so many incumbent governors would lose their senatorial ambitions to opposition party candidates. This happened in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Niger and Kebbi
States.
Moreover, contrary to the suggestion that “the country is heading towards a very volatile and vicious electoral contest” (International Crisis Group, 2014, p. i) and CLEEN Foundation’s
Report of April 2014 that 15 states in Nigeria were “most volatile” and “prone to electoral violence”, there was no pronounced violence anywhere, except in Rivers and AkwaIbom.
The elections in the entire Northern and South Western Nigeria were generally peaceful.
Observer missions deployed from the African Union (AU), Commonwealth of Nations,
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the EU, among others, in their interim reports, also attested to the credibility of the elections.
5:4 Direct Data Capturing Machines in Nigeria Election
A new Election Commission was inaugurated in June 2010, and elections were scheduled for January 2011. At the time, problems included the need to amend the electoral law, a lack of funds, and the need to balance the cost and effectiveness of the voter registration process. As a result, the development of an open-source voter registration system was deemed the most appropriate solution to respond to Nigeria’s need for a simple, secure, fast and reusable process.
Two major bottlenecks were the time and cost restraints for procuring the required
132,000 registration systems for 120,000 polling units. Only two months before the commencement of registration, contracts for the supply of 132,000 DDCMs were awarded to three vendors at a total cost of USD 234 million.
86
Table 1: List of various technologies deployed by INEC from 2011 to 2015 for registration
of voters, accreditation, voting, collation and transmission of results.(Source: Independent
National Electoral Commission)
1 2011 *Direct 21 Days Basic YES Electronic Excel Sheet/E-mail Data details, Voters’ Capture photograph, Register Machine and finger (EVR) (Ddcm) prints * Afis
2 2015 *Direct Continuo Basic YES * EVR Election Data us Voters details, *INEC Voters Transparency Capture Registrat photograph, Authenticatio Administration And Machine ion and finger n System Collation (e-TRAC (Ddcm) (CVR) prints (IVAS)/Smart *Improved Card Reader Afis/Busin (SCR) ess Rule.
The open-source voter registration (Open VR) software was built using open source
technologies, and the biometric image software suite developed by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology was used for the comparison and analysis of biometric data.
The DDCMs captured the bio data, photograph and all 10 fingerprints of most
registrants. The resulting voter register was considered to be the best ever produced by the
INEC, and was used for two general elections in 2011and 2015.
87
Voter accreditations at polling stations
The voter accreditation process takes place on Election Day to ensure that each voter is registered to vote at the polling station. Voter accreditation had previously been performed manually, thus exposing the process to manipulation and fraudulent practices. This process was improved in 2011 with the introduction of paper registration slips and accreditation before voting, ensuring that voting commenced at about the same time at all polling stations.
Permanent voter cards
For the 2015 general election, the INEC decided to use technology to optimize the process by introducing permanent voter cards (PVCs) and smartcard readers (SCRs).
Among the different card technologies available, PVCs were chosen that used a contactless chip card. Since they are difficult to counterfeit and tamper with, and they last for up to 10 years. The PVCs are smart-card-based and store voter information including bio data, biometrics and a photograph.
The PVC project was initiated in 2012, and cards were printed for voters still on the register after the voter register optimization process, which included data consolidation and deduplication. A total of 73.5 million initial cards were printed at a total cost of USD 31.8 million. The unit price for the subsequent production of PVCs increased from USD 0.50 to almost USD 2.00.s
Figure2. The Permant Voters Card. source: INEC Manuel for election officials 2015 updated version
Pg34.
88
Smart card readers
To take full advantage of the PVCs, Independent National Electoral Commission decided to use SCRs for the identification and authentication of voters during the 2015 general elections. SCRs are used to verify that PVC presented at a polling station which was issued by the INEC and to authenticate that the bearer of the PVC is the legitimate owner of the card through fingerprint matching. Once PVC was read and verified by the SCR, the voter identification number was stored in the reader, and repeat verification of the same PVC on that particular reader was not allowed.
The accreditation process was broken down into three phases:
a) Identification, which involved a physical comparison of the card holder with the
image displayed on the SCR when the PVC was read.
b) Verification (that the card was authentic), which involved checking that the
information on the chip could be read.
c) Authentication, which involved matching the fingerprint stored on the card with that
of the voter.
The INEC procured a total of 182,000 SCRs for all 152,000 voting points in the country.
Each SCR cost about USD 188 in 2014–15, yet a recent market survey showed an increase to about USD 300 per unit. All these measures were to ensure the free conduct of Election in
Nigeria. INEC Card Reader, a device that was used for the Nigeria General Election, help on
March28, 2015.
Figure 3 Biometric card reader and charger
89
Source
From: Manual For Election officials 2015 (updated version) pg42 and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Equipment testing and certification
The SCRs were extensively tested by an independent assessor from the United States and certified to comply with requirements, specifications and international technical standards. To test the system, a mock accreditation exercise was conducted in selected areas to assess the average duration of the authentication process, the ability to check all voters during accreditation hours, the life span of the system’s power supply and the frequency of failed verifications, and the overall added value of the SCRs to the accreditation process.
Relevant findings included that verification of PVCs took less than two seconds.
Authentication of fingerprints was more difficult for some voters; this process took a much longer or even failed entirely in some cases. There were cases involving faulty chip encoding in the PVC, which were noticed because the voter’s details shown on the SCR screen after verification were different from the voter’s bio data contained on the card. Mishandled or mutilated PVCs were also observed. Interestingly, the results varied greatly depending on the location. While some states had an outstanding percentage of successful accreditations of up to 92 per cent, other states had only around36 per cent, and a mere 3.4 per cent in one state.
These observations helped the INEC determine the guidelines for voter accreditation on
Election Day. The difficulty of successfully authenticating some voters led the commission to
90
decide that once PVC was read by a card reader (successful identification), the voter should be allowed to vote even if authentication failed.
5:5 The Way Forward For Biometric Card Reader In Future Election.
The introduction of information and communications technologies (ICT) into the electoral process is generating both interest and concern among voters, as well as practitioners across the globe. Today, most electoral management bodies (EMBs) around the world use new technologies with the aim of improving the electoral process (ACE Project). These technological software and devices including the smart card reader must however be deployed in manner that will lead to their effectiveness (Ekuwem, 2015). No doubt, the smart card reader had played a very significant role in the 2015 general elections in Nigeria.
However, there is need to ensure that the issues and challenges which confronted the use of the device before, during and after the elections do not reoccur in future elections.
Therefore, a number of mechanisms would need to be in place by INEC for the deployment of the card reader in future elections so as to strengthen the democratic process. INEC should ensure that its conduct and activities in future elections is transparent especially with the use of technology like the card reader. This is because transparency is a key principle in credible elections; and this will bring about trust and public confidence in the electoral process. Also,
INEC should consult widely and carryout effective campaigns on the card reader and any other technology to be deployed in future elections. Stakeholders including the media, political parties, civil societies, national assembly and the electorate should be adequately consulted. INEC should partner with them to carryout massive dissemination of information; sensitize them on the need to key into the technology in order to improve the electoral process and deepen the democratic process (Ekuwem, 2015).
INEC should endeavor to manage information about the technology and changes so that stakeholders do not have unrealistic expectations and do not impose impossible deadlines
91
(ACE Project). These stakeholders can be engaged to make rules and regulations on the electoral process. The need to strengthen the electoral law in conformity to the technology deployed for future elections is germane. The Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) should be amended to include the use of the card reader for biometric verification of voters for the purpose of accreditation in future elections. Therefore, the National Assembly should quickly be approached by INEC to amend the electoral legal frameworks on the use of card reader in order to address the issue of legality which the card reader had generated. Furthermore, adequate training of election officials both temporary and permanent staff of INEC should be conducted in a conducive environment ahead of time in future elections so as to give rooms for practical demonstrations of how to use the device effectively. Enough card reader should be made available during the training session. Every one of the trainee should undergo a mock test during training. Strict compliance with all instructions handed down to the trainees should be monitored. The trainees’ allowances should be paid in full in order to motivate them in handling the device properly (Ekuwem, 2015).
INEC must regularly update and re-examine the relevance of the card reader to future elections in Nigeria because technology is not static and the level of technological change is rapid such that a device used five years ago may not be too relevant to the present day.
Therefore, to conduct a credible, transparent, free and fair election in the future with the use of the card reader, INEC must invest in regular staff training and development in order to be in tune with modern day technological changes that is fast occupying the democratic landscape and electoral process. Consequently, future general elections in Nigeria should gradually continue to be technologically driven.
5:6The strengths and challenges of Introducing Technology
One of the strengths of introducing the technological system – BVR, AFIS, PVC and the card reader (which was novel) - was that it eliminated the chances for electoral fraud. This
92
increased trust and confidence in the process. In addition, the system allowed for enhanced information collection and storage. Using the system, INEC was able to establish databases at the national level and at the state levels, complimented by 2 disaster recovery centers. The card reader had the capacity to transmit information from the polling stations to the national database that INEC maintained.
However, the use of technology had its own challenges. Some of it was due to the infrastructural conditions in Nigeria. Due to inadequate power supply, INEC had to rely on generators to charge the card readers in remote areas. Another challenge stemmed from the fact that technology is not widely produced or manufactured in Nigeria. The issue was how to get equipment providers to comply with INEC specifications. The United Nations
Development Program assisted on this front. They helped with quality assurance, which made certain that equipment providers complied with the specifications developed by INEC.
Dependency on equipment providers is also another possible challenge that could arise in this regard, especially in spare parts, licensing and software, etc.
The use of technology is also very expensive. In the case of Nigeria, however, there was a broad commitment to credible elections including among the stakeholders. This was very helpful because people saw the cost implication as a worthy expense necessary to meet the needs of improved elections in the country in the national quest to deepen democracy.
Finally, from these analyses, it is clear that the use of biometric card reader enhanced the credibility of 2015 general election in Nigeria. Therefore the first hypothesis is validated and accepted.
93
CHAPTER SIX
BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATIONAND ELECTORAL OUTCOME
This section is saddled with the responsibility of testing our second hypothetical postulationwhich stated that The Voter and Biometric Authentication contributions to the victory of the APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. In this exercise,the study attempted to unravel the relationship between the X and Y variables by focusing oncertain indicators. Basically, the study kicked off by understanding the impetus behind the victory of
APC and, subsequently x-rayed the various contributions that led to the victory of the APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.
6:1 INEC Introduction of Technologies in Nigeria Election from 2011-2015
The methods used in registration of voters and conducting elections in Nigeria from
2011 to 2015 ranges from the use of Direct Data Capture Machine (DDCM), Electronic
Voters’ Register (EVR), Smart Card Reader (SCR). Registration of voters was done manually in 2007 but was improved upon from 2003 to 2011. Registrant details were written with pen on a form provided by INEC. There was neither any database of voters nor any technology introduced to minimize double registrations; thus the 1999 election registers’ credibility was questionable and was very far from reality. The foundation of any election process is a credible Voters Register. The Voters Register is the basis for determining who is eligible to vote and who is not on Election Day. While the Manual Register of Voters used in the 1988 and 1999 elections served its purpose, it has become outdated with the passage of time
C.C.N.D.I.I A (1999).
Perhaps the 2003 election witnessed a technological leap with the introduction of
Optical Magnetic Recognition (OMR) forms. While still retaining the manual approach as back up, INEC incorporated computerization, using the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) technology. This involves the compilation on the form EC.1A of the names and particulars of
94
all prospective voters (also known as Prospective Registrants) who present themselves physically for registration at the Registration Centers. The information so obtained is then transferred and shaded on computer readable OMR Forms, which were later, scanned into database on completion of field operation, and processed to produce the Register of Voters.
Each OMR Form has a unique number, which is assigned to the registered voter who is then issued with a new Temporary Voters Card (TVC) bearing the same number and his/her particulars including his/her thumbprint C.C.N.D.I.I A (1999).
Interestingly,the OMR registration continued for 10 days while the consortium of Nigerian,
South African and European partners were commissioned by INEC to undertake the work.
Automated Finger Prints Identification System (AFIS) was then used to clean the register of double registrations. The database of voters was also created. The advantages of OMR technology over the previous one are as follow: it was faster to create; it was more accurate than previous manual method; register can be updated on continual basis; special features were added for security such as the thumbprints. The limitations of OMR technology include the following: absence of photograph of voters; absence of robust database of voters and inability to develop an electronic register. No technology was used for accreditation of voters, voting, sorting and counting, collation and transmission of results.
Meanwhile, the build-up to the 2007 general election marked the beginning of a new era in the history of Nigeria electoral system. The procurement of the Direct Data Capture
Machines (DDCM) for the registration of prospective voters introduced some level of credibility to the system. DDCM was introduced to eliminate double registration, double voting and other electoral malpractices. The DDCM components include: a computer system for capturing and storing voters’ information, scanner for taking fingerprints of registrants; camera for taking pictures; back up batteries to forestall power failure, External Hard Disk
Drive(HDD) for data backup and printer for printing Temporary Voters Card (TVC). It was
95
recorded that 13,000 integrated data capture systems were deployed by INEC for the 2006 voters registration exercise, 22,000 Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines, and 18,000 devices for revalidation of voters register for electorates thereby giving enough room for the registration of over 61 million voters with 40,000 DDCs on the whole (with data and the printer units accessories) at the end of the exercise. Research revealed that the adoption of
DDC technology with manual back-up for the revalidation of voters’ register made the exercise more transparent, speedy and less cumbersome Ejikeme(2015). Registration of voters was conducted for 81 days due to limited supply of DDCMs to the states. Also, it is believed that the development of an electronic voters register was a giant stride in eliminating double registration and double voting in the history of Nigeria electoral system. Very Small
Aperture Terminal (V-SAT) was installed in all the 774 INEC local government offices and state headquarter offices to enable the smooth transmission of election results from various local government areas. Although, these gadgets were not used effectively due to lack of proper training and the issues of no transparency that trailed 2007 general election. No technology was used for accreditation of voters, voting, sorting, counting and collation of results.However, the conduct of the 2011 general elections was domestically and internationally acclaimed to be credible and a great leap forward from the previous experiences since the 4th Republic Prof. Jega(2012).
Although the search light of INEC under the leadership of Prof. AttahiruJega in
2010 was focused on the registration of voters as it then existed, which were discovered to have fallen below the level of credibility required for the conduct of free and fair elections in a country? The new Commission took the view that an entirely new register of voters was the irreducible minimum for free, fair and credible elections Prof. Jega(2012). INEC was able to procure and deploy over 132,000 direct data capture machines (DDCMs) one per 119,973 polling units (PUs) and each of the 8,809 registration areas (RAs), with a provision for some
96
contingencies. The registration exercise was conducted for 21 days. Although more effective
AFIS was applied to rid the register of multiple registrants while an EVR was generated which was used for the 2011 general election? No technology was used for collation of results. Electronic mail was used to transmit results from local government and state offices to national headquarter in Abuja.
Interestingly, the effort to effectively strengthen the credibility and trust of the 2015 general election in Nigeria INEC marked a new era in the deployment of sophisticated Information
Communication technologies in the history of Nigeria elections in addition to existing technologies which is already in use. Improved Automated Fingerprints Identification System
(AFIS) was introduced to identify similar fingerprints on the register used for 2011 election. Business rule was also applied in addition to further clean the register. The business rule required that at least two fingers must be captured for a voter to be included in the register. For the first time, INEC adopted technology for accreditation of voters with the aid of INEC Voters Identification System (IVAS) popularly called the Smart Card Reader (SCR).
Temporary Voters’ Cards (TVCs) which were issued to voters for 2011 election were replaced with the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). The PVC replaced the Temporary Voter
Card (TVC) According to INEC, quality, security; durability and cost effectiveness were underlying factors in the production of the Permanent Voter Cards by INEC. These cards have many components and specialized features (e.g. base substrate, security printing, personalization, lamination and chip embedding), and it was designed with an average life span of ten (10) years Agbu (2016).
Although with the SCRs, Accreditation process was broken down into three:
Identification, Verification and Authentication. Identification physical comparison of the face of the card holder with the image displayed on the SCR when the PVC is read; Verification
(that the card is original)- being able to read the information on the chip of the PVC
97
presented; Authentication-comparison of the fingerprint stored on the card with what was physically presented and scanned by the reader. Once PVC has been read and accredited by the SCR, the Voter Identification Number (VIN) is stored in the reader and it does not allow the accreditation of that VIN on that particular reader any longer Nwafor C (2016).
Figure2: set up for Accreditation
SOURCE: INEC Manuel for election officials 2015 updated version Pg28.
6:1:1Voter Authentication as a tool for Election Credibility
The use of the Card Reader for the purpose of accreditation of voters is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to improve the integrity and credibility of the electoral process. It does not violate the Electoral Act 2010, as Amended, or the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as Amended. It adds value to the process in line with the yearnings of Nigerians electorates for credible elections in the country, and accords with international best practices. Whereas the Electoral Act prohibits the use of electronic voting, the Card Reader is not a voting machine and is not used for voting. The
Card Reader is used only for accreditation of voters, and only accreditation (and not voting) data is transmitted by it.
98
According to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu the Chairman of Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Nigeria voter Authentication is the process of verifying that the person thatRegistered to vote is the same person that is at the polling station to cast his vote. This process takes place during the accreditation of voters on Election Day; Voter accreditation after the return of democracy has been manual, exposing the process to human manipulations and fraudulent practices by man.The manual process was improved upon in 2011 with the introduction of accreditation before voting. These were to ensure that voting commences about the same time in all the Polling Units.For the 2015 General Election in Nigeria however, INEC decided to apply biometric technology to optimize the process with the advent of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and the Smart Card Reader (SCR).
Accreditation process has been broken down into three:
Identification - physical comparison of the face of the card holder with the image
displayed on the SCR when the PVC is read.
Verification (that the card is original) - being able to read the information on the
chip of the PVC presented.
Authentication - comparison of the fingerprint stored on the card with what was
physically presented and scanned by the reader.
Meanwhile, the PVC has been read and accredited by the SCR, the Voter Identification
Number (VIN) is stored in the reader and it does not allow the accreditation of that VIN on that particular reader any longer.The use of the PVC and SCR gave a lot of credibility to the
2015 general election in Nigeria which was accepted by Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999. Electoral Process, as it greatly assisted in ensuring one-man-one-vote; though not without some challenges. Main issue encountered on the day of Elections was the perceived “failure of the readers” – as authentication became a major issue. This was mainly because of either of the following:
99
Poor training of ad-hoc personnel – little hands-on during training.
Poor handling of machines by ad-hoc staff – fear of technical equipment.
Unwillingness to use the card readers by some politicians and persons
Sabotage of the process by stakeholders.
6:2Biometric Authenticationas a tool for Election Credibility
Biometrics which is the automatic identification or identity verification of an electorate using their enduring physical or behavioral characteristics like their body parts, personal characteristics and imaging methods have been suggested and used for biometric systems.
This means that biometrics is the automated approach to authenticate the identity of a person using individual’s unique physiological or behavioral characteristics. Since it is based on a unique trait which is part of you, you do not have to worry about forgetting it, losing it or leaving it at some place. Since it is unique to you, it is more difficult for others to copy, duplicate or steal it. Thus in general, biometrics offers a more secure and friendly way of identifying and authenticating a voter during election.
Biometric authentication is the process of verifying your identity using the unique characteristics of your body, then logging you in a service, an app, a device and so on. You can see that there are so many areas Nigeria can leverage on Biometric Technology.
Biometric technology was used in the Registration of Voters using the Technique called E-
Registration for the last General elections in Nigeria.The main essence of using this
Technique of registering voters is to avoid double Registration and ensure the credibility of the outcome in 2015 general election and beyond.
6:2:1 Theuse of biometric voter registration (BVR) in the 2015 elections
The use of biometric voter registration (BVR) in the 2015 elections was not new to elections in Nigeria. INEC used BVR before the 2011 elections. The reason for introducing it at the time was that INEC realized that the quality of an election was closely related to the integrity
100
or validity of the voter register. INEC was also convinced that using biometric technology not only for registration process, but also for maintaining a database of registered voters would help improve the overall quality of elections in Nigeria. At the time when BVR was done in
January/February 2011, many people were concerned that it may not be possible to utilize the system for the 2011 elections due to the short time period.
Meanwhile, for the 2015 elections, we used Advance Fingerprint Identification
System (AFIS) for de-duplication and removal of multiple registrants in the national database. INEC ensured that this technology was widely used to match fingerprints, and to eliminate multiple registrants. This helped us to improve on the national database, which
INEC had established since 2011. Since the AFIS we used was about 95% accurate, we also made provisions for it to be complemented by a manual, physical verification system.
Through this manual verification process, INEC detected and removed more multiple registrants from the register. At the time of the elections, INEC was confident that it had the cleanest register ever used in elections in Nigeria.
Despite this, we were also conscious of the possibility of multiple voting and knew we needed to prevent it. This was why INEC issued every registered voter with the Permanent
Voters Card (PVC), which contained his/her demographic and biometric information on a chip. We then used the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) during the 2015 elections to identify, verify and authenticate voters before they were allowed to vote. The combination of the PVC and the card reader helped to prevent multiple voting.
Therefore, Biometrics is the name for any type of body measurements and calculations. Biometric identification verificationis based on your body measurements.
Biometric authentication goes one step further and uses that information to compare you against a database and enters your information in a service.
101
Thus the context upon which biometric identification is formulated is like a neighbor who looks through the peeping hole at the 2 people who just rung the bell. The neighbor decides which one of them Dave isbased on height, hair color, eye color and so on.Biometric authentication works by comparing two sets of data: the first one is preset by the owner of the device, while the second one belongs to a device visitor. If the two data are nearly identical, the device knows that “visitor” and “owner” are one and the same, and gives access to the person.
Moreover, the important thing to note is that the match between the two data sets has to be nearly identical but not exactly identical. This is because it’s close to impossible for two(2) biometric data to match 100%. For instance, you might have a slightly sweaty finger or a tiny, tiny scar that changes the print pattern.
Nevertheless, designing the process so that it doesn’t require an exact match greatly diminishes the chance of a false negative (the device doesn’t recognize your fingerprint) but also increases the odds that a fake fingerprint might be considered genuine.
6:2:2Biometric authentication methods and how they work
Fingerprint Scanners is the most popular biometric technologies that have been used by electoral umpires’ during elections. The Optical, Capacitive and Ultrasound are the three types of fingerprint scanners mostly used.
An optical scanner takes a photo of the finger, identifies the print pattern, and then
compiles it into an identification code.
A capacitive scanner works by measuring electrical signals sent from the finger to the
scanner. Print ridges directly touch the scanner, sending electrical current, while the
valleys between print ridges create air gaps. A capacitive scanner basically maps out
these contact points and air gaps, resulting in an absolutely unique pattern. These are
ones used in Smartphone’s and laptops.
102
Ultrasonic scanners will make their appearance in the newest generation of Smartphone. Basically, these will emit ultrasounds that will reflect back into the scanner. Similar to a capacitive one, it forms a map of the finger unique to the individual. Biometric authentication as have been adopted in Nigeria will avoid and prevent thuggrey, manipulations, intimidations etc. moreover, each vote will count and collation of results will be faster, easier and safer among other advantages of using the system. 6:3 Immediate and remote causes of Jonathan’s defeat in 2015 general election
We have to reiterate that the combination of factors culminated in the president’s defeat. However, for the purposeof emphasis and clarification, this section would be devoted to highlights these causes in their various degrees and intensity.
The Economy
The Nigerian economy has been said to have improved by the minister of finance, Okonjo
Iweala; unfortunately, at this same time, the wealth of the nation is apparently concentrated in a few hands.Coupled with a combination of a fall in oil price and rising foreign exchange rate and as poverty levelcontinued to rise among Nigerian citizens, the perception, and real imagine is that the president hasunwittingly encouraged corruption and its adverse effects on the people. This factor, truly aggrievedNigerians, who desired a change at all cost.
The Looming Anarchy in the Country
The threat of Boko Haram insurgency and the seeming inability of the federal government to dealdecisively with the menace was another cause of loss of faith with the Jonathan led- administration. With the Boko Haram hostility, over 20,000 lives of innocent Nigerians have been lost coupled with the Chibok girls that have been in captivity for over a year. The growing perception was that Jonathan’sgovernment was too weak or indecisive to ensure security of lives and property of the citizens. TheFederal Government efforts to address these issues in a couple of weeks before the presidential electionwere too belated to have changed the minds of many Nigerians who have made up their minds against thegovernment.
103
Division within the Ruling Party (PDP)
Intra-party grievances caused by unfair treatment of some party loyalists, imposition of unpopularcandidates on the people, lack of internal democracy amongst others, caused disaffection amonginfluential party chieftains such as governors: Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state; Rebiu Kwankwaso, Kano; Murtala Nyako; Adamawa; Abdulfatah Ahmed, Kwara; and,
Tanko Al Makura, Nasarawa; who dumped the party for APC (Daily Independent
Newspaper, April 1, 2015). The defection of these governors toAPC, obviously affected the fortunes of the PDP; a situation that was worsened by the abandonment ofthe party by its godfather, former president Obasanjo in the most despicable manner.
APC Formidable Opposition
The coalition that gave birth to the All Progressive Congress (APC), provided a formidable match for thePDP in the polls. The coalition meant victory for the APC due to the instrumentality of the South-Westcoupled with pockets of loyalists in other states within the
South-East; Imo state for example.
The Card Reader Innovation
The immediate cause of Jonathan’s defeat was the introduction of the Biometric Card Reader and thePermanent Voters Card (PVC), in the 2015 election which, in spite of its malfunction in some places, ensuredthat the incidences of rigging and related electoral fraud were greatly minimized.
Table 1: SUMMARY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULT S/N CANDIDATE PARTY VOTES 1 MUHAMMADU BUHARI APC 15,424,921
2 GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN PDP 12,853,162
3 AYENI MUSA ADEBAYO APA 53,537
4 ALH. GANIYU O. GALADIMA ACPN 40,311 5 CHIEF SAM EKE CPP 36,300
104
6 RAFIU SALAU AD 30,673
7 DR. MANI IBRAHIM AHMAD ADC 29,666
8 ALLAGOA KELVIN CHINEDU PPN 24,475 9 CHIEF MARTIN ONOVO NCP 24,455
10 JCI SEN. TUNED ANIFOWOSE- KELANI AA 22,125
11 CHIEF (DR.) CHEKWAS OKORIE UPP 18,220
12 COMFORT OLUREMI SONAIYA KOWA 13,076 13 GODSON MGBODILE OHAENYEM UDP 9,208
14 HIGH CHIEF AMBROSE N. ALBERT OWURU HOPE 7,435
Source: Independent National Electoral Commission 2015 General Elections Report
Table 2: State Where Public Demonstration OF Smart Card Readers Was Conducted Before the 2015 General Election
S/N STATE LGA RA TOTA NO NO. NO.OF SECURI SP O LNO. OF OF PERSONN TY O OF PU VP EL REGIS TERE D VOTE RS 1 RIVER PORT OROMENI 18,387 23 42 191 107 4 S HARCOU KE RT CITY WARD1 2 EBON ABAKAL UZZI 12,207 16 24 106 64 2 YI IKI UNUHU 3 EKITI ADO DALIMOR 21,631 23 40 215 115 5 EKITI E 4 TARA GASSOL MUTUM 9,696 13 10 69 45 2 BA BIYU 5 KANO KUMBOT DANMAL 21,127 32 54 243 140 5 SO IKI 6 KEBBI BUNZA RAHA 6,383 9 13 57 35 1 7 NASA KOKONA GARAKU 12,841 14 25 113 64 3 RAWA 8 NIGER SHIROR EGWA/G 10,243 18 22 94 62 2 O WADA 9 LAGO IKEJA ONIGBON 24, 638 31 50 224 131 5 S GBO
105
10 ANAM AGUATA IGBOUK 8,033 22 23 95 68 2 BARA WUI 11 DELT OSHIMIL UMUEZEI 13,905 14 29 134 72 3 A I SOUTH 12 BAUC JAMA’A JAMA’AR 6,766 10 14 61 38 1 HI RE E ‘B’ TOTA 12 12 171,85 225 358 1,602 941 35 L 7 Adopted from INEC 2015 General Election Report There was a lot of misconception about the device. To some of the electorates, the card reader was a voting device. This inadequate information dissemination and poor sensitization of the electorates on the card reader led to some poor human relations and uncooperative attitudes between some of the illiterate electorates and election officials (Onapajo, 2014).
The authentication and verification of voters was part of the accreditation process for the election. A number of the PVC issued to voters by INEC could not be authenticated thereby disenfranchising some eligible voters in the elections. Wherein some voters‟ cards were authenticated, their biometric data could not be verified after several trials; and where it is verified, it is slow in some cases especially the fingerprints.
Table 3 – Components of the I.V.A.S S/N ITEM QTY 1 Battery 1 Piece (320mAh)
2 USB Cable 1 Piece (Mini USB)
3 Charger (British Standard) 1 Piece
4 Cleaning Cloth 1 Piece For instance, in Borno State, ten percent of eligible voters cards were authenticated and biometric data verified by the card readers at most of the polling units (Odiakose, 2015).
However, the inability of the device to capture the fingerprints of some voters was attributed to greasy or dirty fingers of the voters. In most cases, people had to scrub their hands on the ground just to ensure that the device recognizes their finger prints (Okoro, 2015). Some
106
electorate believed that the card reader is designed to assist a certain political party to win the general election. Peters (2015) maintained that the major plank of their argument is that the card reader must have been programmed to assist a pre-determined winner of the election by ensuring that so many persons would discriminately be disenfranchised to deny other parties of favorable votes thereby ensuring the winning of an INEC preferred or pre-determined party. There is also the sentiment about the use of a faith based bank to transfer money for printing of permanent voters‟ card and the configuration of the card reader.
Setting up the I.V.A.S (Card Reader): a) Be sure the battery is properly inserted into the battery compartment of the device b) Connect the Mini USB port on the device with a USB cable to the standard USB port on the charger for charging. The red indicator on the card reader will flash slowly during charging.
When fully charged, the indicator turns green. c) Insert the SAM card issued into one of the two SAM card holders and ensure good contact between the pin and the probe. The SAM card holder is at the bottom of the battery holder, as in Diagram. 2.
Diagram 3 – Voter Verification
Description of the icons on the Voter Verification Window
107
This button is clicked to read the voter’s card (the voter’s card is placed within a distance of 0 – 3cm from the card reading area under the device).
This button is clicked to open fingerprint scanning interface. This can be activated if the voter’s card is successfully read and the PU code is same as the PU code of the device.
Diagram.4, – Successful Voter Authentication At this time, the fingerprint scanning interface willshow green indicator and the scannedfingerprint will be displayed on the screen.If successful, the device will display the window as seen in diagram.4, as well as a voice prompt stating that the verification issuccessful. Otherwise, there will be a voiceprompt stating that the accreditation is notsuccessful and the voter is required torepeat the accreditation.
This button is clicked to enter result inquiry interface.
This button is clicked to return to main interface.
108
However, the inability of the device to capture the fingerprints of some voters was attributed to greasy or dirty fingers of the voters. In most cases, people had to scrub their hands on the ground just to ensure that the device recognizes their finger prints (Okoro, 2015). Following the widespread failure of the card reader, Jega, changed the guidelines (while the election was ongoing and after millions of frustrated voters had gone home disenchanted) in the conduct of the election on March 28 and approved the use of manual accreditation in areas that the smart card readers malfunctioned during the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the country (Odiakose, 2015). The announcement by the INEC Chairman seemed to have eased accreditation in many places.
The introduction of new technologies in the electoral process brings potential benefits, but also risks and challenges for the EMBs and other stakeholders, as well as for observers. The use of new technologies in election touches upon the key question of transparency and efficiency in electoral processes. New technologies in elections affect various stages of the process: voters’ registration, voters’ identification, voting, counting, transmission and tabulation of results as well as open data and public scrutiny of results. In countries where EU is involved in election observation (Africa, Asia, Latin America), by far the most common technology applied during the pre-election process is biometrics related to voter registration
(BVR). It is meant to help election management bodies to eliminate duplicate entries in voter registers. Often BVR is perceived by political parties, sometimes also those in opposition, as a solution to problems: a guarantee for the integrity of the registration process.
As a matter of fact, several factors, including ignorance of the technology or exaggeration of
BVR benefits – sometimes to justify the high cost - can lead to the perception that BVR can be a panacea addressing all registration flaws. However, biometrics cannot fix all problems associated with voter registration. For instance, biometrics cannot prevent, ipso facto, possible registration by non-citizens, under-age registration, or the presence of deceased
109
voters in a register. It is therefore important to ensure adequate awareness of the functionsof the technology applied and its limitations.
When observing the use of biometrics in an electoral context, it is useful to assess the level of knowledge of the technology amongst various stakeholders - not only the elections management body which is implementing biometric voter registration - but also political parties, media houses, civil society and citizen observation organisations.
6:4Biometric Capturing and Reduction in Electoral Malpractices and violence
Prior to the 2011 General Elections, election administrations in Nigeria were fraught with monumental electoral irregularities. In the run up to the 2015 General Elections, many
Nigerians and international development partners expressed doubts about the capacity of
INEC to successfully conduct transparent, free, fair and credible elections. These doubts were necessitated by the prevalence of provocative utterances and calumnious documentaries that targeted the personalities of the leading presidential candidates during the electioneering period. The aggressive rhetoric and hate speeches were seen as forerunner of election-related violence. Thus, in their separate reports, the International Crisis Group, CLEEN Foundation and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) predicted gloomy electoral outcomes for the country.
In particular, the Foundation reported that Adamawa, Yobe, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi,
Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Bayelsa and Zamfara
States were most volatile and prone to violence (CLEEN Foundation, 2014). On the other hand, the Commission reported that “Lagos (South-West), Kaduna (North-West) and Rivers
(South-South) States present the three most worrying trends and locations predictive of a high likelihood of significant violence during the 2015 elections” (NHRC, 2015).
Nonetheless, the above-average performance by the security agencies, success of civic education and the introduction of biometric devices by INEC built confidence and positive
110
disposition of Nigerians, EOMs and development partners in the capacity of the Commission.
The disposition of many Nigerian voters towards the novel anti-rigging technology was amply demonstrated through their level of participation during the elections. This confidence was based on their conviction that their votes would not only be counted, but actually did count. In its interim report, the NDI (2015) notes that: the elections highlighted strong and enthusiastic commitment of Nigerians to democratic processes and the possibility of determining the leadership of the country through peaceful, transparent and credible elections. Nigerian voters conducted themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner on election days and politicians across the spectrum should recognize and respect this public manifestation of citizens‟ commitment to the democratic process.
Although voters‟ turnout varied across different geo-political zones and polling units in the country, there were long queues of enthusiastic voters who conducted themselves in largely peaceful manner. In many instances, during the period before the arrival of poll workers and materials, citizen volunteers organized the crowd by handing out slips of paper with numbers in the order in which voters arrived so as to facilitate crowd control and orderly conduct once the accreditation process began (NDI, 2015). The report also indicates that high number of women and youth were well represented in voting lines on election days. In most cases, special consideration was given to pregnant and nursing women, the aged and persons with disabilities in order to facilitate speedy accreditation and voting. For the most part, in the polling sites in which card readers did not properly capture fingerprints, voters remained generally patient and calm. Even among those who were displaced through the coordinated attacks of Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, the desire to participate in the electoral process remained resonate.
According to Election Monitor (2015), the highest voter turnout were Akwa-Ibom,
Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Jigawa all having above 60% voter turnout. The state with the
111
lowest voter turnout was Lagos State. Other states with relatively low turnout of voters are
Ogun, Edo, Anambra, Abia, Kogi, Borno and FCT (30 to 39%). The national average voter turnout is 47% when considering those who came out for accreditation.
Added to the above is the role of the biometric card reader as a technology in improving free, fair and credible elections has not gained much ground in the literature, but has been widely recognized by officials of EMBs and pro-democracy activists. This study therefore, examines the effort of the INEC in improving the credibility of the 2015 General Elections in
Nigeria. overview of electoral fraud in Nigeria since 1999, use of biometric card reader and the credibility of the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, the introduction of biometric voting machinery and confidence building among stakeholders in Nigeria’s elections, use of smart card reader as a tool for improving the rate of election rigging and reduction in election petitions.
According to INEC 2015 general elections report, there were few reported cases of electoral offences involving election officials, security agents, party agents as well as supporters and in some cases, candidates. All such cases have been incident with the police for proper prosecution. In order to make the polling processes transparent and credible, the commission has introduced the use of smart card readers to enhance accreditation of voters, the SCRs is used to verify the biometrics of voters, in order to checkmate impersonation by voters (Manual for election officials 2015).
The biometric capturing of voters in 2015 general elections was an innovation in improving Nigerian’s electoral process. As this serves as a measure to control and regulate double voting by voters during and after election. A major issue which pitted the Independent
National Electoral Commission against the Jonathan Presidency, PDP Governors Forum has to do with the proposal to use Smart Card Readers or Card Reader Machines to authenticate
112
PVCs issued by INEC and to verify the rightful owner of PVCs whose biometrics including thumb printing had been stored and in the process ensure free, fair and credible elections.
Indeed, since thumb printing will verify the rightful owner of a PVC, that meant that no one can be accredited, and possibly vote in more than one PU. We have stated earlier that the concept of free and fair elections embraces several variables, one of which is that each eligible voter in an election should have one vote and only one vote. To be sure, transparency is the hallmark of free, fair and credible elections. The proposal to use SCRs in the 2015 General Elections is certainly borne out of INEC’s experiences with the conduct of the 2011 General Elections when Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) used by eligible voters, who engaged in multiple registrations, contributed largely to glaring electoral fraud in several
States.
Briefing the Senate shortly after INEC announced the postponement of the scheduled February 14 and 28, 2015 General Elections pursuant to the powers vested in the
Commission by the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) and the 2010 Electoral Act (As
Amended), the INEC Chairman noted:
That over 4 million voters were found to have been involved in multiple registrations
during the January 2011 Voters Registration Exercise.
That SCRs are being introduced to prevent electoral fraud and that accreditation of
voters using SCRs would not take more than 30 seconds.
That TVCs used in previous elections contributed largely to glaring electoral fraud
and their use must be discarded.
That over 100,000 ad-hoc-staff would be employed for the March 28 and April 11,
2015 Elections.
That INEC was ready to conduct the 2015 general Elections but regretted non-chalant attitude of Nigerians with respect to collecting their PVCs never helped matter. While the
113
test-runs of SCRs in the six geo-political zones reinforced INECs confidence in the use of
SCRs to ascertain the genuine of PVCs presented by eligible voters at PUs on Election Day,
INEC received much commendation and support from the senate, public opinion moulders/leaders, public-spirited Nigerians, CSOs, civil rights activists, the Conference of
Nigerian Political Parties and the APC. Specifically, President Ibrahim Babangida, while denying canvassing for the establishment of an Interim National Government in the event of the 2015 General Elections not being held because the circumstances after the annulment of the June 12, 199 3 Elections and the not holding the 2015 General Elections are different,
President Babangida commended INEC for introducing SCRs, adding that INEC should be encouraged in preparing for the rescheduled elections. As he puts it:
Be encouraged, motivated, animated and commended for their sheer
courage Jega and his colleagues in the Independent National Electoral
Commission have to and determination shown so far in their preparations
for the March 28 and April 11 elections.
We must appreciate the creativity and innovation of the card reader which INEC has introduced to make for better election credibility and transparency. In a digital world where almost everything is driven by technology, the offer of the card reader is a welcome development. On the propriety of the use of SCRs, Prince Tony Momoh, a leading light in
Nigerian journalism, has this to say:
If card readers will help to enhance the democratic process, we should
accept it. If that will make us to avoid multiple registration, we should
give the benefit of doubt, it will make the election transparent. The card
readers will identify the authentic owner of PVCs.
114
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties endorsed the use of SCRs which it believes would engender “free, fair and transparent elections.” As it put it:
In the absence of a genuine reason, we adopt a device which has been
used to conduct free, fair and transparent elections in many countries like
the US, UK, Brazil, Ghana and the 2014 Indian General Elections, an
election where 600 million Indian voters voted seamlessly.
The use of the Biometric Card Reader for the accreditation of voters will minimize if not eradicate ballot box snatching, thumb printing of ballot papers and snatching of result sheets. Contributing to the debate, the All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the claims by the PDP that the BCR is a compromised instrument and that its use would disenfranchise millions of eligible Nigerian voters in spite of INEC‟s assurances that no holders of genuine
PVCs would be denied their rights to vote. The APC took the position that the use of BCRs will eliminate rigging and expressed dismay at the opposition of the PDP Governors Forum which at its meeting in Lagos pleaded for the use of TVCs instead of PVCs. It maintained that opposing the use of BCRs “is an attempt to promote electoral fraud and rigging,” adding: that the use of SCRs is time-saving, would eliminate long hours spent on the queue and remove the fears of the health issues staying in the sun for hours; and 2. that the PDP “is not committed to credible election and deepening the country’s democratic process.
At a Seminar organized by the Nigerian Labor Congress in Abuja, the leaders of the
NLC enjoined President Jonathan to allow Professor Jega unfettered freedom to perform his duties until June 23, 2015 when his tenure is to come to an end, maintaining that any attempt at removing him “might plunge the nation into crisis.” In his own contribution, a spokesman of INEC, Professor Abubakar Momoh, and Director-General of the Electoral Institute at the
Commission declared:
115
If Jega is removed, there will be crisis of confidence. Politicians do not
want him because he is a man of integrity. President Jonathan chose him
because of his pedigree and impeccable records. In his own (Jonathan’s)
interest, he should not listen to politicians calling for Jega’s removal
because it will affect his integrity. He maintained that those opposed to
the use of the PVC had intention of rigging the election. He added: The
PVC has the highest security fortification. Those advocating for the use of
TVC are insincere because it will pave the way for rigging.
INEC wants to lift the benchmark so that anybody taking over will not do anything less. We want to show the world that it is possible to conduct a credible election in Nigeria. Politicians should allow us to do our job.
As we noted above, the PDP Governors Forum was not only opposed to the use of the PVCs; it was also vehemently opposed to the use of the SCRs which would authenticate its genuineness. Additionally, Vice-President Nnamdi Sambo whose party initially supported the use of SCRs questioned their legality and efficiency. He expressed serious concerns about the possibility of disenfranchisement of millions of eligible voters. In essence, all critical stakeholders in the Nigeria Project and these include CSOs supported the use of PVCs and
SCRs to ensure credible elections. As INEC Chairman maintained, SCRs would add tremendous value to the electoral process because cloned PVCs would not work. To be sure,
“without the use of card readers, the accreditation of voters will be prone to alterations. While the PDP Governors Forum was opposed to the use of the PVC in the 2015 General Elections and preferred the TVCs much against the tide of public opinion, a so-called PDP Integrity
Vanguard, possibly a front, raised serious issues on the integrity, propriety and appropriateness of deploying PVCs and SCRs for the elections. While taking note of the fact that an eligible voter with genuine PVC would be allowed to vote if his biometrics cannot be
116
verified/authenticated by a SCR, it then asked: What then is the essence of the biometrics if they cannot be trusted to provide the last security gateway against electoral fraud? This portends grave danger and is a recipe for unrestrained confusion at the polling stations.
Making a case for a return to the use of TVC, the PDP Integrity Vanguard declared:“Card
Readers are arguably a recipe for monumental national disaster and must be discarded at this point because of the intention to use it to rig elections in favour of the APC”.
Speaking on the propriety of using PVCs and SCRs for the 2015 General Elections,
Chief Ola bode George, and Chief Joseph Wayas, both PDP leaders in Lagos State and Cross
River State respectively enjoined INEC to ensure that there were sufficient SCRs as back-up in case of failure because asking people to come back and vote the second day was a recipe for chaos. Chief George declared:
It is brilliant to come up with the card readers. But INEC must come with
two, three or four systems per polling unit as back up instead of saying
people will vote the next day in areas where if fails …. Asking people to
come back the second may lead to chaos.
In essence, both PDP leaders were not opposed to the use of PVCs and SCRs for the elections but wanted contingency plans by INEC to ensure that millions of eligible voters were not disenfranchised. Since it appeared that Professor Jega and INEC were determined to go ahead with the deployment of the PVCs and SCRs, the battle to stop INEC from using the
SCRs moved to the Courts which some forces in the Presidency and PDP were hoping would issue Orders restraining INEC from using SCRs in four separate suits in Abuja and Lagos by four registered political parties, United Democratic Party (UDP), Action Alliance (AA),
Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and Alliance for Democracy (AD); Society of
Advancement and Protection of Rights and WasiuTaiwo in which they (the Presidency and
117
PDP) are not parties. To be sure, serious concerns were expressed by CSOs and human rights activists that:
“There is a fresh plan by the PDP to scuttle the general election by
securing an order to restrain the INEC from using the SCRs”.
The initial plan was to use the registration of the Young Democratic Party to force the
INEC to start planning afresh following the party’s new claim that Justice Ahmed
Mohammed of the Federal High Court had ordered it to be included in the ballot papers. But the PDP and some forces in the Presidency got a big shock when Justice Mohamed denied issuing such order and summoned YDP leaders for misinforming INEC and Nigerians.
They have now resorted to Plan B by taking advantage of the suit on Card readers to frustrate the INEC and Jega. The main fear of the PDP is that the use of Card readers will not enable the party to rig and secure jumbo votes like the case in some geo-political zones in
2011… The PDP and 15 mi nor parties made the last botched move against the Card Readers on Thursday when political parties met with Jega and the INEC management. Jega stood his ground and the anti Card Readers lobbyists left the INEC headquarters dejected.
This is why they have seen the court matters as the last hope to call Jega’s bluff … Some forces in the PDP in Abuja are already bragging that the Federal High Court, Abuja will give a ruling on Monday to put paid to the use of Card Readers. They are celebrating as if the court had ruled in a case they are not parties to. It is left to the judiciary to save the nation’s democracy and avoid a repeat of June 12, 1993 General Elections where they were conflicting orders.
What were the prayers of the Plaintiffs in seeking Ex-Parte Order from Justice Ademola
Adeniji of the FHC, Abuja against INEC from using the SCRs in the 2015 General Elections?
They were three:
118
An Interim Order restraining INEC from proceeding with arrangement and plan to use
the Card Reader Machine for the impending elections;
An Order of Interim Injunction restraining the defendants, its agents, servants, privies
or assigns, by whatever name, from implementing or commencing or further
implementing or further commencing or further directing the use and preparation of
the Card Reader Machine or any name of like nature, pending the hearing and
determination of the Motion on Notice;
An Interim Order that the deployment of the Card Reader Machine for the elections is
a violation of the provisions of Section 52(1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (As
Amended) which prohibits the use of any electronic method of voting. Section 52(2)
of the Principal Act which states that “the use of electronic machine for the time being
is prohibited” was amended to read: Voting at an election under this Act shall be in
accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral
Commission.
That the use of the CRM is to ensure that PVCs are not cloned or that the holders of PVCs are the rightful owners is not in doubt. Obviously, the Presidency or the PDP (which initially approved the use of CRM for the election) should have sought and obtained legal advice that the deployment of CRM to authenticate the lawful owner of PVCs during accreditation before proper voting parse is not prohibited by the extant law. Defending the deployment of
SCRs to authenticate the true owner of PVCs, while briefing the Senate on the postponement of the scheduled elections of February 14 and 28, the INEC Chairman noted:
The use of the PVCs and the card readers for the conduct of the 2015
Elections are in accordance with the provisions of the 2015 Electoral Act
(As Amended). They were also introduced pursuant to the powers granted
to the Commission by the 1999 Constitution by Section 16(4) of the
119
Electoral Act 2010 … ‘wherever it considers it necessary, to replace any
voter card for the time being.
He added:
The decision … to replace TVC with PVC is in accordance with the
provisions of the Electoral Act (As Amended). An election is said to be
validly conducted if it meets certain basic requirements including
accreditation of voters. An election cannot be said to be properly
conducted if the steps provided by Section 49 of the Electoral Act 2010
are not complied with.
He emphasizes:
This section requires that anybody intending to vote shall p resent himself
with his voter card to a Presiding Officer who shall certify himself or
herself that the person is on the register of voters before issuing such a
person with ballot paper … The use of the card reader for the purpose of
accreditation of voters is one of the innovations introduced by the
commission to improve the credibility of the electoral process, in
particular, the accreditation process. It is not offence to the Electoral Act
or to the Constitution. It adds value to the desires of Nigerians to have a
credible election in line with international best practice.
He declared and this is very significant:
Whereas Section 52 of the Electoral Act prohibits the use of electronic
voting, The Card Reader is not a voting machine and it is not used for
voting. It is merely an electronic device introduced to improve the
120
integrity of the voting process. It should be remembered that Section 78
and Section 118 of the Constitution grant INEC powers to register Voters
and to conduct election in Nigeria.
In essence, the deployment of SCRs is not volatile of the provisions of the 2010 Electoral
Act. As things turned out, no Court Order was issued stopping INEC from using CRMs or
SCRs to authenticate holders of genuine PVCs during accreditation before proper voting parse. Apart from the advantages of the use of SCRs alluded above, the deployment SCRs is
INEC‟s best option to curb electoral malpractices as only lawful owners/holders of PVCs can use t heir PVCs. Second, using SCRs will boost the confidence of Nigerians in the electoral process. Most Nigerians do not vote in previous elections because they believe that their votes do not count. Thus, dropping the use of SCRs as demanded by the PDP and its supporters or surrogates would have decreased voter turnout. Third, other countries including
India, Ghana and Brazil have used SCRs in their elections. Fourth, the test-runs carried out by
INEC have shown that SCRs would work and are the best optimal option to minimize/curb electoral malpractices an d ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
In an effort to mitigate and prevent election related risks in the 2015 General Elections, the commission finalized plans to deploy an Election Risk Management (ERM) tool. In
December 2013, a two-day workshop, in partnership with AU and International IDEA on mapping electoral risk in Nigeria, was held. It brought together diverse participants such as security agencies, CSOs political parties, media as well as the academia with expertise in elections, conflict management and security, to assess and map electoral risk ahead of 2015 general elections (INEC 2015). The Election Risk Management tool was meant to empower those who have immediate responsibility to prevent and mitigate election –related risk that may result in more open conflicts, violence and compromise of electoral outcomes. The tool was designed by international IDEA; it was to help to improve the Commission’s
121
organizational capacity to address challenges relating to electoral risks and violence as well as enhanced a better electoral management of the electoral process (2015).
6:5 APC’s Victory: The Challenges Ahead
Over the years, successive governments in Nigeria had grappled with the challenges of poverty, corruption, unstable economy and very recently, the issue of security evidenced in the gory tales of the Boko Haram insurgency. For instance, the indices for measuring national development as reported in Udu and Nkwede, et al (2014), include but not in anyway, restricted to: quality of democratic governance, institutional and human capacities which by extension include: literacy level, gross domestic product per capita, employment level, poverty, life expectancy and so on. Evidently, these are low in Nigeria as low life expectancy which manifest in the form of massive illiteracy, parity in purchasing power, low gross domestic product per capita, unemployment, hunger, disease, malnutrition and in fact, mortality are unfortunately high in the country (Udu & Nkwede et al, 2014).
Expectedly, considering the foregoing vis-à-vis security threat and rising exchange rate, the expectation of Nigerians from the APC incoming administration is very high; particularly, in view of the apparent failure of government to tackle these issues frontally.
These notwithstanding, the first and foremost challenge of the APC, perhaps, are how to interpret the victory. For instance, the nature of General Buhari’s victory in the north and the reactions to this victory by the core northern parts of Nigeria is worrisome as noted in Kukah
(2015). The interpretation is that, APC’s victory is victory for Muslims; a chance to regain the government which has hitherto been lost to the South. Similarly, Christians all over the country, particularly in the north heaved a sigh of relief as the victory meant a saving grace from a perceived looming doom. All these, have negative implications for the unity of the country.
122
Another challenge would be to watch carefully the intentions and ambitions of the demagogue who have ulterior motives for democracy. Kukah (2015) captured this succinctly when he illustrates that: Adolf Hitler came to power not through a coup but through a democratic process so did the brotherhood in Egypt riding on the crest of the Arab spring which opened them up for democracy. Kukah contends that the ambition/intentions of those in the wings if not carefully watched can scuttle democracy; hence, to guide the precious prize of free and fair election, ought to predominant the euphoria of having achieved credible and peaceful elections in Nigeria.
Finally, there is the challenge of managing the egos of those who believe that now is their turn to eat (Wrong, 2009). Ego, according to Professor Ake, is indeed a great challenge to democracy in Africa. He spoke of men and women with large egos who had tended to manipulate democracy for other non-democratic means (Ake, 2000). According to
Kukah (2015), Nigeria’s greatest challenge is not so much the popular idea of fighting corruption, rather to see that corruption is the symptom of the cancerous ailment of a society that has lost its soul. Hence, to rebuild the common humanity of Nigerians, restore their trust in government, is perhaps, one of the greatest challenges of the incoming Buhari regime.
6:6 2015 Presidential Election Outcome
March 28th through April 1st 2015 marked another turn in Nigeria’s democratic history as registered voters took to the polls to elect the next set of leaders into the Presidential and
National Assembly positions. The elections, conducted in the thirty six states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory, witnessed the emergence of the opposition party the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari as the new president of the Federal Republic. This outcome was also the first time an opposition party would unseat the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) since Nigeria’s transition into civil rule in 1999.
123
Analysis of Result
The 67,422,005 registeredvotersin 2015 General Election in Nigeria, hasonly 31,746,490
(47.08%) voterswereaccreditedforthe2015presidentialelection; 29,432,083 of votes werecast, of which 28,587,564(97%) were valid.
The 2015 presidential election and the eventual outcome were in many ways different from other elections, especially the 2011 edition:
14 political parties (20 in 2011) contested the election.
More votes were cast in 2011 (38,209,978) than in 2015 (28,587,564) by a 25%
difference.
The incumbent lost to the opposition: 45% (12,853,162) to 54% (15,427,943)
The incumbency lost by a relatively wide margin of the total votes cast for the
opposition, about 20% (2,574,781).
The opposition Won more states (21) and had at least 25% of votes in more states (26
to 25).
The PDP lost approximately 43% of the votes it once controlled (22,495,187 in 2011
to 12,853,162 in 2015).
In contrast, the APC gained approximately 26% more votes between 2011 and 2015
(12,214,853 to 15,424,921).
The PDP won 31 states in 2011, but could only muster 16 states in 2015
The PDP not only lost 15 of the 31 states, it also lost some percentage of votes in the
states it retained.
There was an Increase in the number of total votes cast for the two main parties;
98.92% in 2015 Compared to 90.84 In 2011 Marginal parties saw their support
eroded.
124
Party Votes received % of votes received APC 15,424,921 53.96 PDP 12,853,162 44.96 APA 53,537 0.19 ACPN 40,311 0.14 CPP 36,300 0.13 AD 30,673 0.11 ADC 29,666 0.10 PPN 24,475 0.09 NCP 24,455 0.09 AA 22,125 0.08 UPP 18,220 0.06 KOWA 13,076 0.05 UDP 9,208 0.03 HOPE 7,435 0.03 Source: http://www.inecnigeria.org/?page_id=31
The voterturnout (numberoftotalvotescastdividedbynumberofregisteredvoters) was 43.65% the lowest in Nigeria’s democratic history since 1999 (52% in 1999, 69% in 2003, 57% in
2007 and 54% in 2011).
Voter turnout for the 2015 presidential election (compared to the 2011 outcome) declined in all the geopolitical zones, except in the South-West Where it appreciated by approximately
8% (32% to 40%).
From the above analysis,we concluded that Voter and Biometric Authentication contributed to the victory of APC in the 2015 general election. The second hypothesis is hereby validated and accepted.
125
CHAPTER SEVEN
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7:1 Summary
This study examined the impact of biometric card reader on the outcome of 2015 general election in Nigeria. This study was divided into six chapters. Chapter One:
Introduction Background of the study, Statement of the Problem, Objectives of the Study,
Significance of the Study, Chapter Two: Literature review, Chapter Three: Methodology,
Theoretical Framework, Hypotheses, Research design, Methods of Data Collection, Methods of Data Analysis, Logical data Framework. Chapter Four: Introduction of Biometrics in
Election, Chapter Five: Biometric Card Reader and the Credibility of 2015 General Election,
Chapter six: Biometric Authentication and Electoral Outcome,Chapter seven: Summary,
Conclusion, and Recommendation. The following research questions were generated to fill in the gap identified in the Literature: Did the use of Biometric Card Reader enhance the
Credibility of 2015 general elections in Nigeria? Did Voter Authentication and Biometric
Authentication contribute to the victory of APC in the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria?
The inputs of core actors contributed to the success of the election.
Nevertheless, using the Cybernetics model of Communications theory, the study found that the deployment of technology had restored the confidence of Nigerian electorate and the developmental partners with INEC in the successful conduct of 2015 General Election in
Nigeria. Reports from international and local observersaffirm that the elections were peaceful and credible.
Nothwithstanding, the technology experienced some difficult in its tasks, not minding the difficult witnessed there were significant drop in the volume of election petitions filed by
126
aggrieved candidates and political parties. This is because of the use of the technology for the conduct of 2015 General Elections.
The Introduction of technology has resulted to a waxing development of Nigerian electoral process. Since biometric card reader has been introduced and has equally come to stay, it has become necessary that its use should form a legitimate integral part of the country’s electoral laws and system. The use of the card reader generated debate before, during and after the 2015 General Elections.
However, the significant impact of the device despite its challenges during the election cannot be quantified. Though, INEC deployment of the card reader was to improve the electoral process and deepen the democratic process. However, lack of trust, suspicion and altercations among the stakeholders with vested interest in the election created tension within the body polity. With the use of the card reader in the 2015 general elections and the gradual deployment of technology in subsequent general elections in Nigeria, the prospect of
Nigeria belonging to one of the countries of the world where elections are driven largely by technology is nearby.
7:2 Conclusions
The success of the 2015 General Elections cannot be well sung without talking about the SCR and Biometric voter Authentication. Nigeria is ready to consolidate on the technology to improve in the outcomes of Election. The issues and challenges will be well focused on, to have a better outing in 2019 and beyond. The Biometric Card Reader used in the election contributed to the low level of electoral violence and malpractice witnessed in the elections and the technology also ensured the credibility of the exercise which is accepted by both local and international communities. The Electoral umpires should be supported and assisted with the handling of elections by stakeholders, local and International communities,
127
Organizational bodies etc, should assist and help in improving the logistics of the electoral
Umpires to have a better sound and reliable election on the future time in Nigeria.
The Electorate must ensure they play their part in deciding who governs them through their vote. All voters should make efforts to get their PVCs to ensure the electorate has such powers to exercise during election period. The electorates should not sell the voters for mere food or money. All stakeholders should mobilize their people to partake in electoral processes.
The Election was adjudged peaceful and was accepted by the international standards of conducting election in line with relevant Electoral Laws of Nigeria. Moreover the result which has been accepted by all the candidates and political parties shows the true reflection of the wishes and decisions of the electorates in Nigeria.
The losers showed a good spirit of sportsmanship by sincerely congratulating the winner after the contest. We also urge the winner to extend a hand of partnership with all other candidates for the good and rapid development of the state.
6:3 Recommendations
I recommend the following to our electoral bodies, to have a sound peace and more acceptable election in Nigeria. For credibility, integrity and accountability of the independent
National Electoral commission, INEC should ensure a free, fair and credible electoral process in Nigeria, it is recommended that the commission should embrace and integrate Electronic
Voting System to the current voting system in Nigeria.
Apparently, the adoption of EVS to Nigerian electoral system in this information age will cause a rapidparadigm shift which will directly or indirectly affect the common man on the street. INEC should oncemore canvass for the full use of the Electronic Voting System. With the Electronic Voters Register now inplace, the masses should all go out to support the
128
system. These are some of the recommendations to improve the quality of Election in
Nigeria;
The Electoral officers should ensure that the adhoc staffs that will handle the
Biometric card reader are well trained on how to use the machine prior to the
Election.
The Electoral Umpires should work with truth, Integrity, honesty and they should
ensure they protect the lay down rules and regulation of the commission that manage
election in Nigeria.
Political parties through their parties’ agents during their campaign should ensure
electorates are educated on their right to vote and be voted for.
Special emphasis should be on those remote Areas to ensure they participate
effectively in the election.
Party agents of the whole political parties participating in the election should be
represented in all the polling units.
The Electoral Umpires should conduct a test of the machine before any election.
The Electoral Umpires should ensure the electorate check the information provided
before processing the PVC.
There should be amendments of some Electoral laws to empower The Electoral
Umpires in using biometrics in elections.
129
REFERENCES
BOOKS
Agbese, Dan (2012), Ibrahim Babangida: The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria.London, United Kingdom:Adonis & Abbey Publishers.
Burton, K.F. (2013), Essentials of Electoral Irregularities: U.S.A: Pitman Printing and Publishing Press.
Cheery, C. (1974), Pragmatic Aspect of Human Communication (theory and decision library).London Springer’s publish.
Das, R. (2016). Adopting Biometric Technology: Challenges and Solutions,Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Eric C.E. (1998). Social and Economic Research Principle and Methods,Lagos: Academic Publications and Development Resources Ltd.
Falola, Toyin, and Ihonvbere, J.O. (1985), The Rise and Fall of Nigeria's Second Republic 1979-1983.London, United Kingdom.Zed Books.
Fred, B.G. (2013), Election and the society: England, Cliff production.
Gauba, O. P. (2003). An introduction to political theory (4th ed.). New Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd.
Hague, R. &Harrop M. (2010).Comparative Government and Politics, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Heywood, A. (2002). Politics2nd edition,New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Kurfi .A. (2005), Nigerian general elections: my roles and reminiscences. Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum Books.
Merton, R.K (1949)Social Theory and Social Structure: London: Free Press.
Nnoli, (2003)Introduction to politics:Enugu,Nigeria: PACREP.
Nohlen, D. (1996)Elections and Electoral Systems, Bonn:Fredrich Ebert Stiftung.
Onu&Momoh (2005) Electoral and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria. Lagos: Educational Publishers& Printers.
Bryen S. D. (1971)The Application of Cybernetic Analysis to the Study of International Politics.The Hague, NetherlandsMartinusNijhoff.
Sklar, Richard L. (2004) Nigerian political parties: power in an emergent African nation. New Jersey, USA: Africa World Press.
130
Varma, S.P. (1975), Modern Political Theory. New Delhih: VIKAS Pub. House PVT Ltd
BOOK CHAPTERS
Aderemi, A. (2005). Electoral Commissions and Construction of Democratic Rule in Nigeria 1979-date.In G. Onu, & A. Momoh (Eds.), Elections and the Future of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria.Lagos:Nigeria Political Science Association(NPSA).
Ajayi, K. (2007) Election Administration in Nigeria and the Challenges of the 2007 Elections.p142-151, The Social Science 2.
Battaglia F, Iannizzotto G, Bello L (2014) A biometric authentication system based on face recognition and rfid tags.Mondo Digitale 49: 340-346.
Charles A. McClelland,(1966) Theory and the International System. p63-88. New York: Macmillan and Company.
Diamond, L. (2002). A Free and Fair,The Administrative and Conduct of the 1983 Nigerian Elections. In A. A. Akinsanya, & J. G. Idang (Eds.), Nigerian Government and Politics.Calabar: Wusen Publishers.
Karl W. Deutsch,(1966)The Nerves of Government: Models of Political Communication and Control:p25-27.New York: Free Press.
Kong A, Zhang D, Kamel M (2009) A survey of palmprintrecognition.7: p1408-1418. Pattern Recognition.
Laakso, L. (2007) Insights into Electoral Violence in Africa.InBasedau, M.; Erdmann G.andMehler, A. (eds) Votes, Money and Violence: Political Parties in sub-Saharan Africa,P224-252. Upsalla: NAT.
Milam, M.U. (2004), Strategies to possible elections in the society: U.S.A Pitman Production.
Nnadozie, U. (2007)History of Elections in Nigeria. In Jega, A &OkechukwuIbeanu (eds) In JegaAttahiru&Ibeanu, Okechukwu (eds) Elections and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria. Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA).
Nwbueze,B.O (1993) The Electoral process and 1989 constitution. In UmezulikeDemocracybeyond the Third Republic: p187-204.Enugu: Fourth Diamension Publishers.
Ujo, (2000),’’ Electoral Commission, Its Independence and Free and Fair Elections In Nigeria’’inOmodia (ed),Managing Elections in Nigeria.Volume one:Keffi, Nassarawa State:Onaivi Printing &Publishing Co.Ltd.
Ujo, (2004) Election. InOmodia (ed), Managing Elections in Nigeria.volume one:Keffi, Nassarawa State, Onaivi Printing & Publishing Co.Ltd.
131
CONFERENCE PAPERS
EmanueleGiaufret (2016)New Technologies in elections: Public Trust and challenges for EMBs 13th Conference of EMBs 14-15 April Bucharest European External Action Service. Retrieved from:http://www.venice.coe.int/files/13EMB/13EMB-E.
Iyayi, Festus. (2004) 'The Conduct of Elections and Electoral Practices in Nigeria. Paper delivered at the NBA Conference in Abuja on 24th August, 2004.
Kukah, M.H (April 25th, 2015) Transition to Democracy: Can Nigeria Ride The Wave? Text of a Convocation Lecture Delivered at the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki.
Nwangwu, C. (2015)Biometric Voting Technology and the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.Paper presented to National Conference on the 2015 Elections organized by The Electoral Institute, 27-28 July, 2015. University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Prof. MahmoodYakubu (2017)The Use of Biometric Voter Authentication System: Experiences, Issues and Way Forward.Windhoek, Namibia 26-28 April 2017.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Animashaun, K. (2010) Regime Character, Electoral Crisis and Prospects of Electoral Reform in Nigeria.Journal of Nigeria Studies: Volume 1, Number1. Fall 2010.Volume 1.
Ahmed AdamuMakama&UsmanMuhammed (2015) The Impact of Technology on Nigeria’s Democratic Development: An Analysis of the Card Reading Machine.International journal of multidisciplinary research and modern education (IJMRME).
AsmaShakirKhawaja and Hasan Jamal (2016) Implementing Biometric Voting System In Pakistan: An Anaytical Review JRSP, Vol. 53, No. 2.
Ayeni T.P, Esan A.O (2018) The Impact of ICT in the Conduct of Elections in Nigeria. Am J ComptSci Inform Technol 6:1. doi: 10.21767/2349-3917.100014
Beetseh K and Akpoo T (2015).The Analysis of the use of Smart Card Reader (SCR) and Credible Elections in Nigeria 2015. Inter. J. Polit. Sci. Develop. 3(11): 470-477.
Beetseh, K. &Akpoo, T. (2014) Governance and Credible Elections: A Panacea for Conflict Resolution in Nigeria.Journal of Governance and Sustainable Development in Afraca.P146-151.Vol.2 No. 2.
Beetseh,K. &Akpoo, T (2015) Money Politics and Vote buying: A threat to Democratic Governance in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. International Journal of Public Administrative and management Research (IJPAMR) P65-73.Vol. 2 No.5.
132
Dr. Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim &Adamu Ahmed Makama (2015) The Successes of the Card Reading Machine in Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections: Issues And Challenges.International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Modern Education (Ijmrme).
Ebirim, S.I. (2013). Assessment of the Performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the 2011 Gubernatorial Election in South Eastern Nigeria. Global Journal of Political science and Administration: p11 – 22. Volume 1 No 2.
Elkitt, J. and Renolds, A. (2000). The Impact of Election Administration of the Legitimacy of Emerging Democracies: A New Research Agenda. Working Paper No 281: the Helen Kellogg Institute for international studies.
EjikemeJombo N (2015) Information and Communication Technology and Administration of 2015 General Election in Nigeria. Mediterranean J Social Sci MCSER 7.
Gelb, A. & Decker, C. (2012). Cash at your fingertips: biometric technology for transfers in developing countries; review of policy research,p91 – 117. vol.29 (1).
Ibrahim J. &Garuba D. (2010), A Study of the Independent National Electoral Commission,’’ CODESIA Research Reports: No 1, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Ihonvbere, Julius O. (1999). The 1999 presidential elections in Nigeria: the unresolved issues p59-62. A Journal of Opinion 27(1), Transition in Nigeria.
Jinadu, (1999). Matters arising: African elections and the problem of electoral administration,p1-11. African Journal of Political Science, 2 (1).
KabiruDahiru&Abdulkadir Ibrahim & Baba Mustapha (2017): The role of card reader in conducting credible election in the 2015 Nigeria’s general election. International journal of social sciences and humanities reviews vol.7 no.2, august 2017; p.187 – 193, (ISSN: 2276-8645).
Kalyani (2017) Various Biometric Authentication Techniques: A Review Journal of Biometrics & Biostatistics 8:5 DOI: 10.4172/2155-6180.1000371.
Kuye C.O; Coker J.O; Ogundeinde I.A and Coker C.A.(2013) Design and Analysis of Electronic Voting System in Nigeria. Int. Arch. App. Sci. Technol.,p 15-20. Vol 4.
Lai Olurodei (2017) Technology and Election Conundrum: A Case Study of Nigeria Sociology and Anthropology 5(10): 799-811, 2017 DOI:10.13189/sa.2017.051001.http://www.hrpub.org.
Lindberg, S.T. (2004). “The Democratic Qualities of Competitive Elections: Participation, Competition and Legitimacy in Africa”. Journal of Communication and comparative Politics.p61-1053.Vol.42 No. 1.
Luqman,S.(2009),“Electoral Institution and the Management of the Democratic Process, The Nigeria Experience, Journal of Social Sciences, 21(1).
133
Mustapha Alhaji Ali (2018) et al international journal of management’s research and review.
Nwolise, O.B.C. (2007). Electoral Violence and Nigeria’s 2007Elections Journal of African Elector, 6(2).
Odo Samuel Ituma (2017) The Effect of Card Readers on Election Credibility in Nigeria (A Case Study of 2015 Presidential Election)Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 25 (8): 1784-1792, IDOSI Publications.
Ojo, E.O. (2007).Elections: An Exploration of Theoretical Postulations.Journal of African Elections,pp 4-13. Vol.6 No 2.
Omotola, J. S. (2010). Elections and democratic transition in Nigeria under the Fourth Republic.African Affairs, 109(437), 535–553. Doi:10.1093/afraf/adq040.#
Onapajo, G. (2014): the dilemma of the card reader in 2015 general elections. Journal of multidisciplinary research and development.PP. 22.Vol.1, issue 2.
Osumah, Oarhe and Aghemelo, Austin T. (2010) Elections in Nigeria since the End of Military Rule. AFRICANA.Volume 4, No. 2.
Pius Seleke-Owei Jonah (2018) The Impacts of Smart Card Readers on Election Credibility in Nigeria: A Study of 2015 Presidential Election in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria.Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.orgVol.8, No.1.
Severus IfeanyiOdoziobodo, PhD (2015)INEC and The Conduct Of Elections In Nigeria: An Appraisal Of The 2007 General Elections.European Scientific JournalVol.11, No.31
Shradha T, Chourasia N.I, Chourasia V.S (2015) A review of advancements in biometric systems. International Journal ofInnovative Research in Advanced Engineering.
Suberu, A. (2007): impact of the card reader on Nigeria’s democracy. Journal of democracy and good governance.P34-43.Vol.2, issue 3.
Suberu, Rotimi (2007), Nigeria’s Muddled Elections, in: Journal of Democracy. P95–110. 18, 4
Winner, L. (1969) Cybernetics and political language.Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 14.
NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS
Abuh, A &Azimazi M.J (2015) ‘Buhari links credible 2015 polls to PVC, card-reader’,The Guardian (Lagos), 7 May.
Adibe, J. (2015), Jega‘s Poisoned Chalice. Daily Trust, February 12 (back page).
Adibe, J.(2015, March 29).The Politics of Jega Must‖ Go‖.Daily Trust, back page.
134
Amenaghawon, J. (2015) 2015 Nigeria Elections: The Gains, the Challenges and the Lessons. Available at http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/?p=167419.Accessed 20, June.
AttahiruJega OCTOBER 1, 2011 6:45 PM How to sustain free & fair elections in Nigeria. Vanguard Retrieved from: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/howtosustainfreefairelectionsinnigeriabyattahi ru%C2%A0jega/.
Aziken, E. (2015, March 12). Card readers: Lessons from other lands. Vanguard. Retrieved from:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/10/card-readers-lessons-from-other-lands/.
Chibuzo, U. (2015), Card Reader Test: We Scored 100% in PVC Verification – INEC, in: Leadership, 11 March 2016.
Ekumen, E. (2015). Recounting the Smart Card Reader Experience.Thisday Newspaper of 23rd April, 2015.
Idowu, K. (2015), INEC to Recruit 750,000 Adhoc Staff for the 2015 General Elections. Available at www.Nigeriaeye.com/2015/01 Accessed 13th October 2016.
Jega, A. (2015). Level of our Preparations for 2015 General Elections. Available at: www.sunewsonline.com/news/?p=/105255. Assessed 13th October 2016.
Jega A. (2015) Sacrifices by inec ensured credibility of 2015 polls. Retrieved from: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/sacrifices-by-inec-ensured-credibility- Of 2015-polls-says-jega/212564/ (retrieved July2016).
Jega, A. (2015). Level of our Preparations for 2015 General Elections. Available at: www.sunewsonline.com/news/?p=/105255. Assessed 13th October 2016.
Joseph Amenaghawon (April 24, 2015) 2015 Nigeria elections: The gains, the challenges and the lessons.| Filed under: Political Issues | Posted by: OpinionNigeria.
Source:http://www.opinionnigeria.com/2015-nigeria-elections-the-gains-the-challenges-and- the-lessons-by-joseph-amenaghawon/#sthash.a2VcTwpf.dpbs
Human Rights Watch (2007). Criminal politics: violence, godfathers and corruption in Nigeria. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/nigeria1007/(retrieved September 21, 2016)
Momodu, D. (2014, March 29). The anatomy of APC & PDP 2.This Day.Retrieved from: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-anatomy-of-apc-and-pdp-2/.
Oche, M. (2015, April 5). Elections: What difference did card readers make? Leadership. Retrieved from: http://leadership.ng/news/423212/elections-what-difference-did- card-readers-make.
135
Oderemi, K (2015) ‘Card readers: to be or not to be?’Latest Nigerian News, viewed 20 June 2015,http://www.latestnigeriannews.com/news/1261223/card-reader of controversy.html.
Odiakose, M. (2015) INEC and Use of Card Readers.Available at http://nigerianpilot.com/inec-and-use-of-card-readers/.Accesses 24, June.
Okoro, E. (2015) Card Reader: Clash of Technology and Politics. Available at http://dailyindependentnig.com/2015/03/card-reader-clash-technology- politics/.Accessed 24, June.
Peters, S. C. (2015) Opinion: Illegality or otherwise of Card Readers in Nigerian Electoral Jurisprudence. Available at http://thewillnigeria.com/news/opinion-illegality-or- otherwise-of-card-readers-in-nigerian-electoral-jurisprudence/.Accessed 18, June.
The Nation (2011, May 9), Buhari: How INEC rigged for Jonathan in 20 states. http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/5545-buhari-how-inec- rigged-for-jonathan-in-20-states.html (retrieved June 23, 2015)
Thisday Newspaper (2015), “INEC and Smart Card Readers”, 17 March 2015, Retrieved from www.http://thisday.com/articles/inec-and-smart-card-readers/204251, accessed 26 June, 2015.
Thisday, (2015, March 26). PDP accuses Jega of planning to rig presidential election, http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/pdp-accuses-jega-of-planning-to-rig-presidential- election/205061/ (retrieved June 25 2015).
Vanguard (2015) After Initial Card Reader Failure: Nigerians Persevere, Vote in Peaceful Elections. Available at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/after-initial-card- reader-failure-nigerians-persevere-vote-in-peaceful-elections/ Accessed 21, June.
Vanguard (2015) Fromthe archives: the forgotten political crisis of 1964 and the coup of 1966 http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/archives-forgotten-political-crisis- 1964coup-1966/ (retrieved October, 25 2016).
Vanguard (2015): After Initial Card Reader Failure: Nigerians Persevere, Vote in Peaceful Elections. April 25.
OFFICIAL/GOVERNMENTALDOCUMENTS
ACE Project (2015) Electoral Management: Available http://aceproject.org/electoral management ace en/topics/em/ema/ema. Accessed 19/06/2016.
Adeoye A Akinsanya (2015) Free and fair: the administration and the conduct of the 2015 Nigeria general election.Source: www.inecnigeria.org upload 2015/07.
Alan Gelb and Anna Diofasi.A.L(2016). Biometric Elections in Poor Countries: Wasteful or a Worthwhile Investment?CGD Working Paper 435. Washington, DC: Center for
136
Global Development.http://www.cgdev.org/publication/biometric-elections-poor- countries-wasteful-orworthwhile- investment.
AllAfrica.com (2015).Nigeria—Elections 2015 in Figures.African Elections Project.Retrieved from: http://allafrica.com/stories/201502051361.html.
Biometric Technology Application Manual Volume One: Biometric Basics Compiled and Published by: National Biometric SecurityProjectUpdated Summer 2008.
DrJideoforAdibe(2015) INEC and the Challenges of free and Fair elections in Nigeria. Source: Www.inecnigeria.orgupload 2015/07.
EISA,(2010) Voter Registration in Africa andBudget. General Du Processus Electoral de la Transition, CEI.
Election Monitor (2015).2015 General Elections observation report: A Publication of Election Monitor.
Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA), Voter Registration in Africa (Johannesburg: EISA, 2010).
Emmanuel AdeniranAlebiosu (2015) Smart Card Reader and the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. Source: www.inecnigeria.org upload 2015/07.
Engineering Network Team (2015) Gains of the INEC Card Reader in the 2015 Elections. Available at Go. engineer ng.net/m/blogpost?id=6404812%3ABlogPost%3A103341. Accessed 7, June.
European Union Election Observation Mission – EU EOM (2015), Nigeria General Elections 2015: Second Preliminary Statement, Abuja, 30 March.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999)Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) Lagos: Federal Government Press.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010) Electoral Act 2010 as Gazette Retrieved from: http://www.placng.org/Electoral%20Act%202010-%20as%20Gazetted.pdf
Gelb, A. and Clark, J. (2013).Identificationfor Development: The Biometric Revolution. Working Paper 315.Center for Global Development.
Genkey (2016), Delivering biometric elections.What we do. How we do it.© Copyright 2016, Genkey Solutions B.V. intellectual property rights of Genkey Solutions B.V, Genkey Netherlands. All rights reserved. Version 1.0
Goodwin-Gill, Guys S. (2006). ″Free and Fair Elections″. Geneva, Switzerland: Inter- Parliamentary Union.
Idowu, K. R. (2015). INEC statement on card reader demonstration. Retrieved from: http://inecnigeria.org/?inec news= inec-statement-on-card-reader-demonstration November 2015.
137
Independent National Electoral Commission (2015) Frequently Asked Questions. Available at http://www.inecnigeria.org/?page_id=28.Accessed 10, June.
INEC (2015).‘‘Independent National Electoral Commission 2015 General Elections Report.KAS ARTServices Ltd Abuja Nigeria.
Irma Van Der Ploeg (2005) Biometric identification technology: Ethical implications of the Informatization of the body.Biometric Technology & Ethnics. BITE Policy paper vol 1.
International IDEA (2017) Introducing Biometric Technology in Elections.International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance,International IDEA Strömsborg SE- 103 34 Stockholm Sweden.
National Democratic Institute (2015).Statement of the National Democratic Institute’s international observer mission to Nigeria’s March 28 Presidential and Legislative Elections. Abuja: National Democratic Institute.
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) (2015), A Pre-Election Report and Advisory on Violence in Nigeria’s 2015 General Elections, 13 February,online:
National Institute of Justice, the Fingerprint Sourcebook(Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2011).
Ole Holtved (February 2011) Biometrics in Elections: Georgia:De-duplication or voter register and verification of voter identity using biometrics. This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Orji, N and N Uzodi (2012), The 2011 Post Election Violence in Nigeria, Abuja: Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre.
Peter Wolf (2017) Introducing Biometric Technology in Elections. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance: Retrieved from:
Prof.AttahiruJega(Monday 23 May, 2016) Using Biometric Voter Registration for the 2015 Elections in Nigeria: AnInterview with Professor AttahiruJegahttp://aceprojectorg/ace-en/topics/vr/annex/case-studies/interviews/using- biometric-voter-registration-for-the-2015/mobile_browsing/onePag
Prof. Jega A.M (2012) Report on the 2011 General Elections. Independent National Electoral Commission.
Richard L Sklar (2004), Nigeria Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation. Published by African word press.
138
The Carter Center National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (1999) Special report series-Observing the 1998-99 Nigeria Elections
The Centre for Public Policy Alternatives (CPPA), (2015, April 9). 2015 Presidential Election Outcome: Analyses & Implications, (cpparesearch.org).
Transition Monitoring Group (March 30, 2015), Preliminary Statement on the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, Abuja: TMG.
OTHER MATERIAL
AbubakarAbdullahi (PhD) & Ibrahim Sani (PhD) (2016) Institutional Independence of INEC and the Credibility of 2015 Election.
Alebiosu, E.A. (2015)SmartCard Reader and the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria.Department of Political Science. Federal University Wukari, Nigeria.
Bertallarfy, L.V. (1956), General System Theory:General System Vol .1.
Bolle, C. and Pankanti, R., S.r,( 2004)Guide to Biometrics,New York: Springer.
Bowyer W, Hollingsworth KP, Flynn PJ (2016) A survey of irisbiometrics research: 2008- 2010.Handbook of iris recognition.London: Springer.
CLEEN Foundation (2014) Security threat assessment: Towards 2015 elections. Retrieved from:http://www.cleen.org/2015%20Election%20Security%20Threat%20Assessment % 20April%202014.pdf.
Channels (2015,May, 7): Politics: Buhari: Change Will Also Come To INEC: https://www.nigeriabullentin.com/threads/buhari-change-will-also-come-to- inec.111453/.
Daon (2002), Biometric Identity Management in Large-Scale Enterprises white paper, http//www.ecyclopeadia.com.retrived October, 2016.
Hall and Fagen R. (1956), Definition of a System. General System Vol .1.
Hounkpe, Mathias &Gueye, AliouneBadara (2010) The Role of Security Forces in the Electoral Process: The Case of Six West African Countries. Abuja: Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung.
Jain, A., FlynRen, P. and Ross, A. (2008), Handbook of Biometrics, New York: Springer.
JainA; BolleR; PankantiS (1999)Biometrics: Personal Identification in a Networked Society.AcademicPublishersKluwer.
Kathryn Cave (2015,March 20), Will biometrics work in the Nigerian election. Source: http://www.idgconnect.com/abstract/9658/will-biometrics-nigerian-election.
139
Karl W Deutsch (1975) The development of communication theory in political science in history of political economy.p482-498. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-7-4482.
Mr. Felix Onyema (2017)What is biometrics and how can biometric technology can help Nigeria?Source: https://www.tekediacom/what-is-biometrics-and-how-can-biometric- technology-can-help-nigeria/
Odiakose, M. (2015)What other African elections tell us about Nigeria’s bet on biometrics, Washington post, viewed 18th June 2015. www.washingtononpost.
Olanipekun, Lateef, O. andAdesanya, Ahmed, A (2015)Assessment of Card Readers and its Effect on the Credibility of the 2015 Presidential Election in Nigeria.
Omoleke, Muslim (2017), The Challenges of Acquisition and Deployment of Technologies in the Conduct of Elections in Nigeria.
Prof. MariosSavvides (nd) Introduction to Biometric Technologies and Applications ECE &CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University.
Piccolino, G. (2015a). What other African elections tell us about Nigeria’s bet on biometrics. The Washington Post online: Monkey Cage blog. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/03/10/what- otherafrican- elections-tell-us-about-Nigerians-bet-on-biometrics/.
Piccolino, G. (2015b). Infrastructural state capacity for democratization? Voter registration and identification in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana compared. Democratization, DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2014.983906.
Surekha B, Jayant KN, ViswanadhaRaju S, Dey N (2017)Attendance Recognition Algorithm, Intelligent techniques insignal processing for multimedia security.
THESIS
Aleksandra Babich(2012), Biometric Authentication. Types of biometric identifiers Bachelor’s Thesis Degree Programme in Business Information Technology University of applied science HAAGA-HELIA.
Akinduro, O. (2010) Circumventing the Limits: Case Study of the Independent National Electoral Commission.M.A Thesis in Development Studies. The Hague Netherland: International Institute of Social Studies.
Simo Huopio (1998,November 27)Biometric Identification, Department of Computer Science, Helsinki University of Technology.
140