We’re partnering with locals to end attacks on facilities – INEC

Victory Orimemi

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the commission is liaising with locals to help bring a halt to the recent attacks on them.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner for information and voter education of the Commission, Mr. Festus Okoye during an interview on Monday, November 14, 2022.

Recall that, Champion Newspaper reported a twin attack in Ede South and Abeokuta South Local Government areas which led to the destruction of over 65,699 PVCs.

Okoye stated that INEC is putting in place remedial measures to cool the situation and added that the materials destroyed were not sensitive materials and that with sufficient time, they’ll be able to recover as soon as possible.

He said, “The INEC materials that were destroyed in Abeokuta and Ede South Local Government areas are not sensitive materials and no BVAS was affected. We have not printed out ballot papers for the 2023 general elections. The things that were destroyed are electoral materials that are not sensitive like ballot boxes, stamp pass e.t.c. I believe we have enough time to recover all we’ve lost.”

The Commissioner also pointed out the issue of inadequate security, stating that the country’s electoral commission will have joint security from different agencies and also partnership with the locals to ensure protection of INEC offices and materials.

“There’s a possibility that the level of security have not been adequate because we have 774 local government offices. We had a meeting with the various security agencies on Friday and they have agreed to deploy joint security and safety team to all the 774 local government offices off the commission, they have also agreed to upscale intelligent gathering, sharing and utilization during this period and so we are sure that given this particular commitment, we can begin the movement of these materials because they have to be in the State offices and Local Government offices way ahead of time so we won’t have the issue of late deployment of materials.

“We are partnering with locals to put an end to various attacks in our offices. Our electoral officers are in close contact with the traditional rulers, spiritual leaders and youths in various communities and we’ve made sure to remind them to keep an eye on INEC facilities because these are national assets that are located in their various communities. I believe the joint collaboration among the security agencies in relation to the protection of INEC offices and facilities will put an end to the attacks,” he stated.

The INEC representative further buttressed the importance of INEC’s new invention, BVAS and reinstated INEC’s commitment to provide free and fair elections.

“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has specifically given the commission a particular mandate and our mandate is to organize, undertake and supervise elections and we are going to continue to do that. The Commission itself just introduced the BVAS without prompting from any organization.

“Prior to the BVAS, we were using the smart card reader which only reads the finger prints and we saw that certain elements moved to undermine the smart card reader. Hence, we introduced the BVAS which has the capability to read both the finger prints and the facials. The BVAS is a multidimensional instrument that allows us to carryout voter registration as well as verification and voter upload.

“The Commission cannot undermine its own innovation, we went to the National assembly so we can have a legal backing, we have made it very clear that what is transmitted will be transmitted from the polling units will be locked in the BVAS and the moment it sights the network, it transmits automatically. So, we are going to transmit the results of the 2023 general elections directly from the polling units, anything contrary is not from the Commission, ” he added.