Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has stated that the database of the commission cannot be hacked.
Jega said this on a Channels Television programme on Wednesday.
“We feel very confident that our database cannot be hacked.
“This is because it is not on the network, and as far as I know, if you are not online, it is difficult for your database to be hacked. If our database is hacked, it means people in-house have compromised. But, we have security features to prevent this”, he assured.
On the possibility of the usage of cloned cards during elections, Jega assured that INEC’s card reader could not read cloned cards, a reason it could not be used during the forthcoming elections.
“A cloned card cannot be read by our card reader. Though, Nigerians are ingenious, they will try, but our card reader cannot read cloned cards. It is virtually impossible for anybody to clone our cards and use such to vote in February.”
Jega also said that postponement of election in certain parts of the country could result in constitutional crisis, adding that the INEC was committed to making provision for internally displaced persons to be part of the February elections.
Jega further noted that INEC, based on the Section 31 of the Electoral Act, was not empowered to disqualify a candidate properly presented by his or her party and meets all the criteria for submission, particularly, documentary evidence of the documents cited.
The INEC boss further stated that the power to disqualify a candidate was the jurisprudence of the court of law.
“The legal position, according to Section 31 of Electoral Act, is that when a political party submits a candidate and meets all the criteria for submission, appropriately completes CF001 and CF002 and provide documentary evidence of documents cited, he is a properly presented candidate and is qualified to stand in for an election.
“Since the Act stipulates documentary evidence, he can swear to an affidavit, which makes it tenable. The law says we should accept any candidate presented to us by a party. If otherwise, it is a matter of the court,” Jega said.
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