Mahmood Yakubu, the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), gave Nigerians assurances on Tuesday that the Commission would not be deterred from holding a credible election in 2023 despite some electoral offices and election materials being destroyed in some areas of the nation.
Yakubu made this statement while answering questions from reporters following an inspection of the Abeokuta South Local Government’s INEC office’s facilities in the city’s Iyana Mortuary neighborhood.
In spite of the loss of 65,699 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) due to the fire incident that occurred at the premises on November 10, the INEC chief, who led other members of the Commission on a one-day working visit to Ogun, claimed that residents of the local government area would not be disenfranchised in any way.
Attempts are being made, he said, to reprint the cards for collecting and later for use in voting in the elections.
“The goal of our visit to this office is to assess the extent of the damage in more detail, to meet our own staff, especially in the location where they have relocated in Oke-Ilewo, to boost their morale, and to reassure the residents of Abeokuta South that elections will take place in Abeokuta South in 2023 despite this unfortunate incident.
“The Commission is working to replace any materials that we may have lost. We lost 65,699 PVCs, and we want to reassure everybody who hasn’t yet picked up theirs and might have been impacted that we are working on preparations to swiftly reprint the PVCs and get them back to Abeokuta South for people to pick up and cast their votes.
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“We want to reassure the people of Abeokuta South that this incident, terrible as it is, will not deter us from conducting the 2023 general elections, will not discourage our staff from doing so, and we want to reassure the people of Abeokuta South, the people of Ogun State, and the people of Nigeria once more that the commission is determined to make the 2023 elections our best ever, we will not be deterred, we will not be cowed by the act of arson by
Yakubu added that once the Commission receives the Voters’ Identification Numbers (VIN) from the state of the office, the reprinting process would start.
Despite the attack on some of its offices nationally, he asked all stakeholders to maintain their composure and insisted that the elections will go off as planned.
The head of INEC stated, “We will reprint as soon as we receive the VIN numbers to be harvested by the State office. It takes no more than two days to print 65,000 PVCs, but we must first obtain the voter identification numbers for the missing cards in order to promptly reprint. Reprinting those PVCs doesn’t take more than two days.
“It is really sad, especially considering that five of our offices have been attacked nationally in the last four months, but this won’t stop us. We’ll make sure to replace damaged or burned equipment, print new PVCs, and hold elections.
“My message to stakeholders, political parties, civil society organizations (CSOs), security forces, and even individuals like you in the media is to be confidence that elections will take place despite this very brief setback.”
Yakubu had already paid a polite visit to Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, to ask for his royal blessings to complete the national task successfully.
adding that all parties, including the traditional rulers, had to support the general election.
In his remarks, Oba Gbadebo pledged to assist the electoral body in every way necessary to complete the task successfully.
The monarch stated that the current INEC management team has the reputation to carry out this crucial task successfully.
