Probe PVCs supplied by APC candidate’s firm, Secondus tells INEC

The Peoples Democratic Party has urged the Independent National
Electoral Commission to appoint external auditors to probe Activate
Technologies Limited, a firm reportedly owned by the Niger-East
senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Mohammed
Musa.

The firm was allegedly given a contract by INEC to print
Permanent Voter Cards.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said
this in a letter written to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud
Yakubu.

The letter was instigated by a revelation by the INEC chairman
that the company was indeed owned by the APC candidate.

Yakubu had, however, said the system was foolproof, adding that
the integrity of the electoral process would not be
compromised.

But in a letter he signed on Sunday, Secondus said the PDP was
not satisfied with the explanation of the INEC boss.

The letter partly reads, “You stated that you were aware and
have no issue with the fact that Mohammed S. Musa is both a
senatorial candidate and owner of this company that produces highly
sensitive election materials including card readers and PVCs.

“This goes against every international and Nigerian convention
and law of nature – it is the equivalent of letting the fox into
the hen coop or getting a student to answer their own homework.

“So, we have two supplementary questions: Why would you not
terminate the contract of an individual who is participating in an
election in which he is providing the means to count his own
vote?

“Furthermore, in the spirit of transparency that you stated
today that INEC works to embrace, why would you hire a company
where the owner hides his ownership of the company through proxy
shareholders?”

The PDP chairman said the party had been able to get a list of
the 10 states where the PVCs supplied by Activate Technologies had
been taken to.

He said the PDP would only be satisfied if a probe was conducted
by either PriceWaterhouseCoopers or KPMG.

Secondus added that the firms must inspect some of the card
readers supplied by Activate Technologies as some of them might
have been compromised to accept cloned PVCs.

Secondus added, “Will INEC allow an independent verification
that none of the potentially compromised card readers supplied by
Activate Technologies Limited in the polling units in the 10
effected states have not been tampered with?

“We thank you for agreeing to this and hereby provide two ICT
and audit firms who have the expertise to evaluate whether the card
readers have been compromised. We would be grateful if you could
confirm which one is acceptable to INEC and make provision for them
to have unfettered access between February 18 and 21 as they are
brought to the CBN offices in the following states to conduct tests
on units selected at random.”