Donald Duke Canvasses Adoption of Technology-Driven Electoral System
•Says manual system deliberately left open to manipulation
Sunday Ehigiator
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has called for the adoption of a technology-driven electoral system that would enable Nigerians to cast, verify and track their votes, declaring that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has failed to inspire confidence in the country’s elections.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, made the call during an interview, where he expressed concern over widespread distrust in Nigeria’s electoral process and its impact on voter participation.
“INEC has failed. It is a monumental failure. There’s no gainsaying about it,” he said.
According to him, the lack of confidence in election results has discouraged millions of Nigerians from voting because they believe their participation would not determine the outcome of elections.
“The results you get from the polls often don’t reflect the views of the people.
“So there’s disenchantment with the system, both by the contestants and the public. Most people don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t count.
“And in a world where technology is so advanced, it’s a shame that we couldn’t devise a system that makes your votes to count,” he said.
Duke argued that available technology could make it possible for every ballot to be counted and independently verified, questioning why Nigeria continues to rely heavily on a manual process that he said was vulnerable to manipulation.
“The system in the world today, the technology that is available, can ensure that each vote is not only counted but verified.
“Technology exists. People are going to space and all that; we’re still doing this manual thing that can be manipulated. There’s no excuse for it. The sincerity of purpose is not there.”
The PRP presidential candidate contrasted Nigeria’s electoral process with the country’s electronic financial transactions, noting that Nigerians routinely transfer money electronically to relatives and communities across the country.
“Technology is so advanced. We send money around to our villages, to our relatives in villages, and they get the money. But when it comes to voting, it is not safe anymore. What are we talking about?” he asked.
Duke also recalled INEC’s postponement of the 2019 general elections only hours before voting was scheduled to commence, describing the decision as an assault on the resources committed by political parties and the integrity of Nigerians.
He said he wrote to Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the immediate past INEC chairman, following the postponement.
“I had to write to Professor Yakubu, the immediate past chairman, when, four hours to voting, the elections were postponed. Prior to that, he had said he was ready for the elections, that the papers, the materials, everything was in the state capitals. How do you explain postponing an election four hours to voting?” he asked.
Duke said political parties had already deployed agents to more than 180,000 polling units and committed billions of naira to the exercise before the postponement was announced.
“You know that all the polling agents have been given allowances running into billions. There are over 180,000 polling units across the country.
“You’re going to probably have two polling agents per booth. So, you’re talking about more than 300,000 people involved. You’re not going to give each one of them less than N10,000.
“So you’re postponing four hours to it. Only the party in power has the muscle to raise that sort of money for a rerun,” he said.
The former governor, however, stressed that election postponements were not peculiar to the All Progressives Congress (APC), recalling a similar incident under a previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.
“Now, this is not unique to the APC. It was under an APC government and they appointed the chairman. The PDP did it, but theirs was better, I think it was a week to the elections that they postponed it.”
Duke questioned the justification for such postponements, particularly when electoral officials had previously assured Nigerians that preparations had been completed.
“It was for the same flimsy excuse of harmattan. Harmattan occurs every year at the same time. Bad roads have been with us.
“But you, the chairman, had said specifically that the ballot papers and election materials had all been fully distributed and were at the various state capitals. So, it is so nonsensical. In fact, it’s insulting to the integrity of Nigerians to make that sort of statement.”
Duke said weaknesses in Nigeria’s electoral system had undermined democracy, encouraged voter apathy and given incumbents an overwhelming advantage.
“We don’t have a system of government that ensures that your vote counts. So, we don’t have a democracy. We are pretending democracy,” he stated.
Turning to the 2027 general election, the former governor warned opposition presidential aspirants against allowing personal ambitions to undermine efforts to unseat the incumbent.
“Do you think you can defeat the incumbent, with all its power and its known application of power, while being divided?”
He urged opposition leaders to identify and support the candidate considered best equipped to provide good governance, rather than allow individual ambitions to frustrate their collective objective.
“We all can’t be president. I have dreams of what it would be like for me to be president, but only one person is going to get there.
“So I’m better off being part of a team than not being there at all. I’m tired of gripping from outside. I don’t want to be the spectator in the stands watching the field. I want to be on the field and say: let’s play together.”
Duke described the 2027 election as a pivotal moment for Nigeria, warning that the country could not afford to continue on its current trajectory for another four years.
“There’s a future if we want it, and there’s business as usual if we also want it.
“It’s in our hands. We can determine if we want to go forward or remain as we are. If we remain as we are, we’re not going forward; we’re regressing.”