Group unveils smartcard to track votes, checkmate election rigging

The Consolidated Alliance for Grassroots Mobilisation (CAGraM) has launched a smartcard to mobilise and track votes and curtail election rigging in the country.

Mr Nwosu Emmanuel, Executive Secretary of CAGraM, said this in Abuja at the unveiling, data capturing and issuance of membership smart cards o leaders on Thursday in Abuja.

“Our target is to have between three to five million members on this platform by 2026, and by 2031, we will hit the target of 30 million, and with this, we will deliver the next president in 2031,“he said.

“This is a project that will never stop; it will expand across the country. What we have done today is to unveil the smartcard.

“We are going to deploy this throughout the state and the data capturing will take place at the state level down to the local governments, “he said.

He said that the group was only complimenting the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC), and not taking over its role.

Emmanuel said that the initiative would help mobilise the people at the grassroots across the country.

He said that a situation where some sell their votes was unacceptable, adding that they were unaware of the damages they do to themselves.

He said that the smartcard would also enable people at the grassroots to have access to democratic dividends, by being able to meet their representatives and place their demands.

“We want to challenge INEC by saying that the day integrity comes to our electoral process, the political class will be unbearable to the masses.

“With CAGraM smart card, the voice of the grassroots will now be heard loud and clear, and their votes will count at all elelctions,“he said.

Also speaking, Mr. Silas Sakara, the Director -General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), commended the group for leveraging technology to change the electoral process.

He was represented by Mr. Edmond Onwueri, Director of Planning Research and Statistics at NDE.

“We are glad that Nigeria is leveraging technology to deal with our problems. We believe this will not be open to abuse, as those losing elections will not feel manipulated,“he said.

He said that the move would help deepen democracy as people would now regain confidence in the electoral process, as opposed to what was obtainable in the past years.

Mr. Yusuf Danielle, Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the country had faced numerous challenges in an attempt to conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections since 1960.

“In particular, are the past years of uninterrupted democracy. It is important to note the number of registered voters and turnouts in presidential elections from 1979 to 2023.

This, according to him, would underscore the urgent need for the mobilisation of eligible voters for elections in the country.

He said that the statistics showed a downward trend in voter turnout, particularly from the 2007 to 2023 presidential elections, adding that voter turnout in recent years has been glaring.

“In view of this, IPAC welcomes this innovation in grassroots voter mobilisation using smart cards and technology.

“We hope that the security of the personal data provided would be guaranteed as members’ voting patterns would be extracted from their permanent voter card linked to the device,”he said.

This, according to him, is because the electoral laws provide for the confidentiality of citizens’s votes cast.

CAGraM is a political group focused on political and social emancipation of rural dwellers across the country, set to reinvent grassroots moblisation through technology.