Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC is to appear before the Senate today in order to brief Senators on the Commission’s readiness for the forthcoming March 28 and April 11 elections.
Victor Ndoma-Egba, Senate Leader, moved a motion to summon Jega during the plenary session on Tuesday, the senators first meeting after a 33-day break.
Ndoma-Egba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, stated in his motion that Jega should come with a card reader to be used for demonstration before the lawmakers.
Although George Akume, the Minority Leader, in his own contribution to the motion, suggested that the Service Chiefs should also be invited, as INEC had blamed them for the postponement of the polls formerly scheduled for February 14 and 28, David Mark, Senate President ruled that summoning the Service Chiefs was not necessary at the moment.
After a voice vote, the Senators agreed that the INEC chairman should be invited, while his submission would determine whether the Service Chiefs would be summoned or not.
Meanwhile, INEC has said that 75.94 per cent or 52,275,367 out of total 68,833,476 registered voters in the country have collected their Permanent Voter Cards.
As of February 4 when Jega briefed the Council of State meeting in Abuja, 45, 098, 878 voters had collected their PVCs.
According to a new figure released in Abuja on Tuesday, INEC will deploy 182,000 card readers for use during the general elections
Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, had told newsmen that the Commission had concluded the training of all ad hoc staff for the elections on Thursday last week.
He added that the electoral commission has taken delivery of 182,000 tested card readers to be used in 119 polling units across the country during the elections.
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