CARD READER:DOING THE RIGHT THING AT THE WRONG TIME

My people have a saying down here in the North-You can start to tell how good a Friday would be from a Wednesday.A wise person never lets what he wants to happen to becloud the reality on ground.There is nothing anyone would want more than a free and fair elections this year as the polity has never been this heated.From mudslinging worth paying attention to by both parties on one hand and outright 'Motor park' rants on the other.
INEC remains my biggest fear; the confused umpire.INEC didn't test the card reader in elections prior to the postponed February polls and didn't even test before the postponement on security grounds which was announced just a week before the scheduled date.Is there a plan nobody is telling us?
When Prof Attahiru Jega was appointed and we were serenaded with tunes of his credibility and integrity,I told people we needed to thread with caution and not forget the lessons we had learnt from experience.We should always bear in mind the person who nominated him for appointment is a politician with a party and political interests whether or not he is smart enough to understand the importance of ceding some territories to the opposition.
Jega seemed fired up for the task and introduced the biometric database in place of our archaic voter registration system which we were meant to believe left absolutely no room for Electoral malpractices.Elections were postponed for a week back then because of logistical hitches on the part of INEC.Presidential Election results hadn't even been announced before the then CPC Chairman,Prince Tony Momoh alleged on TV that the INEC computers had a software that deducted GMB votes in his strongholds;places like Katsina and Kano.Whether or not those elections were rigged or flawed to use a milder term,is subjective.
As accustomed to settling for less as we may be, INEC's ineptitude and indecisiveness could be too rotten a  morsel to swallow.Just like it did with the biometric database,it has sold us the 'Card Reader' with ease and ordinarily we would shower Jega with encomiums for further enhancing our Voting system to suit International standards but fellow citizens, 59% Success rate in biometric (Finger print) authentication is something to worry about going by INEC's antecedents.
We had a lot of time before February.Years as a matter of fact, so why anyone would choose the few weeks preceding an election to test the smart card reader baffles me to no end.Would we have blindly gone into the postponed February polls with an innovation INEC didn't deem necessary to test before hand?.

I am not a pessimist and I am very glad Smart Card Readers can fully authenticate PVCs which is its primary aim but what if we had used them in the February polls and provisions weren't made for incident forms where finger prints couldn't be authenticated as is the case now?A slim margin of error only means there is room no matter how little for a flaw or fraud.A card reader could authenticate a card which doesn't belong to the bearer but won't stop him from voting if it doesn't verify his fingerprint because all he has to do is fill an incident form.Here,one can't help but remember stories of politicians offering money for PVCs sometime back.
We understand we are a third world country and that adapting to significant changes entail a lot of mistakes but such mistakes are unacceptable if they could have been easily avoided.Jega's intentions are good and commendable no doubt but he seems to be doing the right thing at the wrong time.And every good innovation would amount to naught if it can't guarantee you success where it counts.

BOKO HARAM: A BUZZER BEATER FOR JONATHAN

Those of us familiar with the game of basketball should be fully acquainted with the phrase 'Buzzer Beater'.It refers to a basket scored from a shot or action taken just before the buzzer signaling the end of a quarter sounds at 0.00 Seconds.The reaction to a game winning buzzer beater by spectators could practically bring down an arena.That Ladies and Gentlemen is what GEJ seems to have done;beat the buzzer in grand style.
Over the last few weeks,we have witnessed a remarkable turn of fortunes in our war against Boko Haram.We have destroyed camps,confiscated weapons,reclaimed lost territory and stopped further encroachment by the insurgents.The war is not yet won though and am glad the Commander-in-Chief understands the importance of cutting the head off by vowing to arrest Abubakar Shekau;the Sect leader.
For the President or against him,you just have to admit this counts as a huge plus to his re-election bid.A lot of people are going to say we don't need a President who only delivers when pushed to the wall or that all that is being done now could have been done a long time ago.But like I always say,if we could end this war all on our own then we wouldn't be a 3rd World Country.Not a war where chances of sourcing useful and credible intelligence on the insurgents were very low and one where the Enemies' response to our '1970s' fighter planes was procuring anti-aircraft weapons which they put to effective use.
Before rushing to hasty conclusions,we must take into consideration the refusal of America to sell arms to us,the implications for any of its allies who does,the desperation and commitment on the part of our government that necessitated the two infamous failed attempts to get 'First Aid' help in which private jets traceable to the Nigerian Government were busted with huge amounts of dollars in South Africa,that maybe our African brothers lent us a helping hand fast because we played 'the forthcoming Elections' card and the length of time it took to clear bureaucratic obstacles and ship arms from the foreign countries named so far.
Just as it is convenient to resort to the timing of this resurgence in criticism of the President,the Timing of the many shortcomings we have had to contend with is also an important criteria in a thorough and unbiased assessment of the performance of the armed forces so far.
Even if I end up not voting for Jonathan in the forthcoming Elections,I must commend his efforts at ending this insurgency.Good thing he came straight and confessed he under-estimated the threat at the beginning.The truth is even his late predecessor did.He cut the head off and went to sleep.There have been reports of how even agencies in the US under-estimated prior intel on the 9/11 attacks.We wouldn't be doing the man justice if we go at him and absolve who was there at the very beginning of any blame.
We have witnessed a very dramatic run-up to the General Elections with both parties trading both intriguing and laughable accusations.The pick of the pack has to be the APC raising alarm over a plot to arrest Shekau and make him link General Buhari to his sect.We have heard it all.
Recent happenings as regards the war will not only polish GEJ's dented reputation across the globe,they are sure to convince a lot of 'Thomases' and win him more converts.