Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday appealed to security establishments in the country to help bring the continued attacks on its facilities to an end.
The Commission further warned that the attacks will disrupt the electoral process, undermine Nigeria’s democracy and destabilise the country.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, issued the warning in his remarks during the emergency meeting with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in Abuja.
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While lamenting that the last few weeks have been very challenging for the Commission, he noted that the spate of arson and vandalisation targeted at the Commission’s facilities and the property has become a major threat to its scheduled activities and entire electoral process.
He said that preliminary assessment so far indicates that it lost 1,105 ballot boxes, 694 voting cubicles, 429 electric generating sets, and 13 utility vehicles.
Yakubu, however, expressed confidence that by working together with the security agencies, the attacks and wanton destruction of critical electoral assets could be stopped.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK