INEC Chairman Expresses Concern Over Attack On Offices

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concern over the incessant attacks across the nations on its local government offices.

This was as the commission said that though it will recover losses from the attacks, it would not condole rising attacks on its offices.

The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, stated this during the visit of African Union Special Pre-Electoral Political Mission to the commission on Monday, in Abuja.

In the space of three weeks, three attacks were carried out on local government INEC facilities in Ogun, Osun and Ebonyi states.

Yakubu however re-emphasised that the commission would not be deterred by the challenges, noting that it is ready to conduct a free and fair election.

“In the last three weeks, three of our local government offices were attacked in three different states across the country.

"The last attack happened yesterday.

"Though there werere no casualties, quite a number of the materials acquired and delivered for the election have been lost.

“The good thing is that so far, we can recover from all the losses but it is a source of concern which should not be allowed to continue.

“We will continue to engage security agencies to make sure that our offices, personnel and facilities are protected ahead of the election.

"We may express some concern about the attack on these facilities but it will not deter the commission from conducting the election as scheduled.

“I want to assure you that yes, we may suffer little hitches here and there but overall, the commission is required to proceed with the election and in the manner that the law requires us to do using the deployment of technology for the purpose of accreditation and uploading of polling units results.”