INEC: Anambra Gubernatorial More Expensive Than Edo, Ondo

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Thursday, October 28th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the amount expended on the rehabilitation of its burnt office and materials is the cause for the high cost of the Anambra gubernatorial election.

African Examiner recalls that on May 23, gunmen burnt the commission’s office in Awka, Anambra state, and also demolished some sensitive and non-sensitive materials.

Commenting on the election fixed for November 6, Festus Okoye, INEC’s commissioner for information and voter education, said the cost is high because of the “unusual circumstances”.

Okoye disclosed this on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Thursday.

According to him, the electoral commission had to replace 326 generating sets, rebuild the facility where electoral materials are kept and also replaced non-sensitive materials.

“We are conducting this election in a very unusual circumstance, this is because we had to rebuild our offices in Nnewi North and Idemili north, where our local government offices were burnt,” he said.

“We had to replace over 326 generating sets that we mopped up from our local government offices and stored in the headquarters thinking that it would be more secure.

“We also had to rebuild our stores, where we normally store non-sensitive materials. We had to also replace over 60percent of the non- sensitive materials we already deployed to our Akwa office, getting ready for this election.

“We had to repay six utility vehicles that were all burnt, we almost had to rebuild our state office that was also burnt.

“So, in terms of cost, it’s been very costly and we can’t compare it to Ondo and Edo states elections, because we are in unusual circumstances, we had to do things differently.

“We are hopeful that when we get to Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, things will calm down much better and things will return to its normal trajectory.”