The immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, yesterday, faulted an allegation by former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that INEC pirated the software for the 2007 elections from a Canadian firm.
“It is widely held view that there was a politically-motivated grand conspiracy to interfere with the initial contract for procurement of the DDCs meant for the 2006 voter registration.
It nearly succeeded; and would have negatively impacted on the 2007 elections but for my quick reaction and admirable cooperation and assistance from a Nigerian patriot who helped the Commission with an alternative and wholly-owned Nigerian platform. And this Nigerian company, to my knowledge, does not have any ‘software licensing’ agreement with any Canadian company that can be said to have been robbed of its copyrights to the software by the dint of the piracy Tinubu falsely attributed to INEC under my leadership,” Iwu said in a statement personally signed by him.
According to the former INEC boss, Tinubu lied when he implied that the DDCs’ software used by the Commission was procured from a Canadian company. “In perpetrating his lies, Tinubu ignored the well-known fact that, throughout my tenure, I maintained a ramrod policy of encouraging Nigerian-owned businesses in the procurement of materials for the Commission.
The reasons for this policy were to encourage Nigerian businesses to grow; and more importantly, because of my abiding concerns for national security, especially given the fact that our voter registration database contains the biometrics of Nigerian voters, including that of Nigeria’s past, current and future leaders”, Iwu explained.
He went on: “Of a truth, there was an electronic voters register produced in 2006/2007 using DDC machines supplied through contracts with three Nigerian registered companies with foreign support”.
Source:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/01/inec%E2%80%99s-alleged-pirating-of-software-iwu-faults-tinubu/
