Card Reader’s Masterkey Compromised – PDP

As the nation inches towards the decisive March 28 presidential election, a war of words continued to rage between the two main contenders on Wednesday.

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) raised alarm that the master encryption (decryption key) of the card readers to be used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had been compromised.

The main opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) described the PDP as a drowning party that was “clinging unto a straw.”

The PDP’s allegation was contained in a statement issued by the spokesman of its Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO), Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.

Fani-Kayode alleged that a major shareholder and board member of the company that supplied the card reader system and machines, one Sani Musa, is an ardent supporter of the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.

The master encryption/Decryption Key, he said, could “unlock” and simulate the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) data processed by the Smart Card Reader”.

Fani-Kayode continued: “There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual, who is a known APC sympathizer/supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC.

“The Master Key should rightly be in the possession of INEC, as the neutral umpire, under the most stringent access control protocol imaginable and not freely in the possession of a partisan actor”, he said.

The PDP also alleged that the master encryption/decryption key, could “unlock” and simulate the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) data processed by the Smart Card Reader”. Continuing, Fani-Kayode added, “There is only one copy of the Master Key in Nigeria and it is in the possession of an individual, who is a known APC sympathizer/ supporter (and also the contractor responsible for the production of PVCs and manufacture of Smart Card Readers for INEC.

The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDPPCO pointed out that INEC has already expressed concern over intelligence reports that APC has been purchasing VINs (Voter Identification Numbers uniquely identifying each PVC).

He added that this can only mean that the party is already in possession of the Master Key (as the purchase of VINs would otherwise have been a fruitless exercise).

Fani-Kayode wondered how INEC would give the contract to supply the card readers to a fanatical APC supporter and to a man whose other company was officially blacklisted by the same commission in 2011 for sharp practices.

But Alhaji Mohammed claimed that the PDP and its leaders were only trying to salvage a drowning ship.

The APC spokesman said: “They say he (Buhari) does not have a secondary school certificate, even when the school he attended publicly released his results. They say he is suffering from a terminal disease, even when it was clear that the medical report they used to back that claim was forged. They say he won’t be the one to rule, they say he will approve same-sex law, they say he will jail all Nigerians and they say he is a religious bigot.

“Plus they commissioned and ran the most untruthful and irresponsible documentary ever made, just to demonise him.

“When all the muckraking failed, woefully, because the stock of our candidate rose in direct proportion to the mudslinging he was subjected to, they went and commissioned an American media man, Richard Grenell, whom they fraudulently called an ex-US Envoy, to write an uninformed opinion piece that Gen. Buhari would Islamise Nigeria if he is elected.”

Continuing, the APC said: “Out of their desperation, they resorted to lies and frittered away millions of Naira. After commissioning Grenell to write his misleading and unintelligent article, they then went ahead to advertise the trash on the front page of many newspapers for several days, at a huge cost of more than 400 million Naira!

“There is no better illustration of the idiomatic expression: Grasping at straws! Left with nothing more to use against Gen. Buhari, they held on tight and celebrated what is nothing but trash!

”Alhaji Mohammed also said that the PDP had extended the list of APC leaders to be clampdown. Some of those on the new list, according to him, are Senator Bukola Saraki, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Femi Ojudu, Hon Dakuku Peterside, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Senator Sola Adeyeye, Senator Jajere, Senator Serika Hadi, Senator Jide Omoworare, Hon. Nathaniel Agunbiade and Hon Bimbo Daramola.