Security expert, citizens fault non-removal of voter registration sheets from polling units

A security expert and other stakeholders have scored the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) low on the commission’s failure to remove voter registration sheets from the various polling centres across the country following the Saturday, February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections.

The total number of polling units across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria is 119,973. At the time of filing this report on Friday, investigations by Saturday Tribune revealed that the voter registration sheets used for  last weekend’s elections were still on display at many of the polling centres one week after the crucial polls were held thus making the voters susceptible to criminality.

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Although some people are of the view that failure to remove the voters details from the various polling centres have no direct security implication for registered voters, some security experts have argued that the non-removal of the information sheets from public domain after the polls may have far-reaching effects as criminal elements in the society could take  advantage of the details to outsmart unsuspecting members of the public.

The Managing Director, Fastrack Security and Safety Limited, Mr Ademola Odetara, said: “Everything we are doing has its advantages and disadvantages. Look at the issue of databank. When everybody is under databank, there will be no hidden place for criminals. At the same time, our privacy is being endangered. So, technology has its advantages and disadvantages.

“The fact that INEC went ahead to display people’s pictures, names ages and addresses is far from what is supposed to be. Just their names and their numbers could have been sufficient on the information sheet. We are talking of a country where people do not have fear of God. We are in an environment where lives do not have the meaning that God attaches to it so, it is unsafe to leave people’s details open. It is a risk to the participants”.

The Lagos-based security expert said such situation could have been  avoided if INEC had fully computerised.

He added that: “Going as far as displaying people’s information – and the details are still there as we speak – is an unnecessary exposure of the confidentialities of those who were involved in the elections. It is possible to have a successful electoral process without having to display voters’ details.

“We discussed this during the last elections but what do we do? If fully computerised, the electorate can vote on their computers or telephones without having anything to lose”.

A community leader at Gbekuba area of Ibadan, Mr Muraina Adigun, said although the information on eligible voters is a public document, pasting it on the wall for too long could be detrimental as miscreants and other fraudulent elements may extract the details for dubious purposes. He said: “I think that the information on the sheets have outlived its purposes, hence should have been removed immediately.

“You and I understand the type of environment we are in where criminal elements seek all means to achieve wrong ends. It is improper to leave such information which goes as far as leaving names, Voters Information Number, and more in the open.”

However, former Senior Special Adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Olugbenga Leke Oyewole,  said that the available information could not constitute security risk to voters as the details on display could not give the people out easily as conceived by many.

Mr Oyewole said: “I don’t think it can be risky to still have the little information about voters in public places after the poll.

“It is not even impossible that some Nigerians may just be seeing their names for the first time,” he added.