For the second time in just over eight months, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has had an unsavoury experience with the card reader being used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accredit voters.
Just as happened during the March 28 presidential election which he lost as a sitting President, the card reader malfunctioned in the first instance when Dr. Jonathan turned up this morning for accreditation to vote in today’s Bayelsa governorship poll. This time, however, the card reader was replaced with the back up, which accredited him.
Elsewhere across the state, the card reader malfunctioned despite INEC’s assurances. In Sagbama, the card reader couldn’t recognise the fingerprint of Governor Seriake Dickson, that of his wife and his mother.
An outraged Dickson expressed dissatisfaction over his ordeal and the high rate of card reader failure.
The governor also berated the security agencies for the violence reported in Ekeremor, Nembe and Southern Ijaw LGA. Dickson said one died in the violence. He urged supporters to resist intimidation.
The election is a straight fight between Dickson, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his predecessor cum main rival, Timipre Sylva of the federal-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
•Photo shows Ex-President Jonathan.
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