Figures obtained from the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have confirmed how the use of card readers in 2015 polls influenced the voting pattern in the presidential election.
According to a report on the commission’s website, the All Progressives Congress (APC) got most of the votes cast without bio-metric verification during the election.
The report confirms an earlier analysis by TheCable on the voting statistics.
According to the report, 13,536,311 votes were cast manually during the 2015 presidential poll, representing 42.6 percent of the 31,746,490 accredited voters.
Of that number, the INEC report showed 10,184,720 votes representing 75 percent of the total votes cast were from states won by Muhammadu Buhari, then presidential candidate of the APC, while 3,351,591 votes representing 25 percent came from states won by Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The report also showed that 10 states mostly affected by manual voting include Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Bauchi, Plateau, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto and Kano: the APC won in nine of the states.
CONTROVERSIES, SHOCK
The initial story published by TheCable regarding the issue was received with both shock and controversy.
While some doubted the authenticity of the report and argued it was fabricated, others expressed disbelief, especially considering the lingering controversy on the use of card readers.
Tolu Ogunlesi, a presidential aide, had said the data as reported appears to have been fabricated while Ayo Obe, a legal practitioner, said she learnt the data did not come from INEC.
But data from the commission has now laid all that to rest.
When contacted by TheCable on Friday, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, declined to comment.
Cable