Duke Demands Technology-Driven Electoral System

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has called for a technology-driven electoral system that would enable Nigerians to cast, verify and track their votes, saying the current manual process is vulnerable to manipulation.

Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, made the call during an interview in Abuja on Wednesday , where he criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to inspire confidence in the country’s electoral process.

“INEC has failed. It is a monumental failure. There’s no gainsaying about it,” he said.

He said widespread distrust in election results had discouraged many Nigerians from voting because of the perception that their votes would not affect 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,” Duke said.

According to him, available technology could ensure that votes are counted and independently verified, questioning why Nigeria continues to operate an electoral system that he described as susceptible to manipulation.

“The system in the world today, the technology that is available, can ensure that each vote is not only counted but verified,” he said.

“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.”
Duke compared the electoral process with electronic financial transactions, noting that Nigerians routinely transfer money to relatives and other beneficiaries in distant communities through digital platforms.

“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.

The former governor also recalled the postponement of the 2019 general elections by INEC only hours before voting was scheduled to begin, describing the decision as damaging to the credibility of the electoral process.
Duke said he had written to the then INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, 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.
He said political parties had already deployed hundreds of thousands of polling agents and committed substantial resources to the exercise before the postponement.

“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,” Duke said.

He, however, said election postponements were not peculiar to the All Progressives Congress (APC), recalling that a similar development occurred under a previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration.

Duke said the explanation of adverse weather and poor road conditions often given for election postponements was inadequate, arguing that such challenges were predictable.

“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.

“It was for the same flimsy excuse of harmattan. Harmattan occurs every year at the same time. Bad roads have been with us,” he said.

He said the credibility of elections was central to the survival of democracy, warning that voter apathy and distrust in the electoral process could further weaken democratic governance.

“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,” Duke stated.

On the 2027 general election, Duke urged opposition presidential aspirants to work together and support a candidate capable of defeating the incumbent rather than allowing individual ambitions to divide them.

“Do you think you can defeat the incumbent, with all its power and its known application of power, while being divided?” he asked.

Duke said opposition politicians should be prepared to work as a team, regardless of who eventually emerges as the presidential candidate.

“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,” he said.

He described the 2027 election as critical to Nigeria’s political direction, saying the country could either pursue reforms or continue with the existing system.

“There’s a future if we want it, and there’s business as usual if we also want it,” Duke said.

“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.”