VOLUME: 2 N0: 143 DATE: 18TH MAY 2021
INEC DECRIES ATTACK ON ITS OFFICES, CHALLENGES COMMUNITIES TO DEFEND FACILITIES.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on all communities across the country where INEC facilities are sited to take ownership of the facilities and stand up to protect them.
The Commission spoke through its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu today at the meeting of the Commission with Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC’s). The emergency meeting was called against the backdrop of persistent attack on INEC facilities in recent times.
Speaking while declaring open the meeting, the INEC Chairman said the Commission will work with security agencies in the country in order to bring to justice those persons behind the attacks, vandalism and arson at its offices across the country.
The Commission condemned in strong terms the attacks which it termed “unjustifiable aggression which may undermine the Commission’s capacity to organise elections and dent the nation’s electoral process”.
The meeting which was convened to review the security situation and deliberate on how best to protect the Commissions facilities was attended by National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners and senior officials of the Commission.
Professor Yakubu, while noting that these attacks “are no longer freak events” but appear to be quite orchestrated and targeted at INEC, said that “this has been on the rise since the 2019 General Election but has now developed into a crisis. In the last three weeks or so, three of our Local Government offices in Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom State, Ohafia in Abia State and Udenu in Enugu State have been set ablaze by unidentified persons”.
He continued: “Last Sunday, 16th May 2021, our State office in Enugu suffered yet another arson and vandalisation in which parts of the building were ransacked and several vehicles razed. And more of our facilities are being systematically targeted and attacked. Just last night, Tuesday 18th May 2021, two more offices in Ebonyi and Ezza North Local Government Areas of Ebonyi State were burnt down. Although there were no casualties, the damage to the physical infrastructure and electoral materials was total. Nothing has been salvaged from ballot boxes and voting cubicles to generating sets and office furniture and equipment”.
The INEC Chairman said the Commission will work with the security agencies to identify and deal with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes according to the law. To this end,he said, “a meeting with all the security agencies is holding on Monday 24th May 2021”.
Professor Yakubu appealed to Nigerian especially host communities to the Commission’s facilities to see them as their properties, own them and help INEC protect them. His words: “it has become imperative to call on all and sundry, particularly communities where these assets are located, to see themselves as owners and custodians of these facilities and assist the Commission in protecting them. I am glad that some of them are already doing so”.
He particularly commended the Ikirun community in Ifelodun Local Government Area and two communities in Ede South Local Government Area, of Osun State who have offered to contribute to the repairs of the offices damaged during the #ENDSARS protests.
“In the same vein, in Nnewi North in Anambra State, the community has also offered to repair our Local Government office destroyed during the #EndSARS protests. The Commission does not take such partnerships for granted”, he added.
The INEC Chairman expressed optimism that with community cooperation, the spate of attacks on its facilities will reverse the ugly trend. In his word, “I believe that we can dig deep and draw from the Commission’s longstanding partnership with communities in this regard, in addition to depending on the invaluable support of our security agencies. Consequently, the challenges posed by these threats notwithstanding, we are still positive that we can find lasting solutions to the spate of attacks on our facilities”.
Also speaking on the attacks on INEC facilities, National Commissioner Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu expressed surprise that no culprits have been apprehended in all the attacks, making it difficult to know exactly those responsible and the motive for the arson.
On his part, National Commissioner AVM Ahmad Mu’azu (rtd) said that while the suggestion to get the military involved in fighting the mounting crimes in the society can be understood, the Military is already stretched
Addressing the RECs on the programmes of the Commission, Professor Yakubu said that the Commission has concluded nationwide consultation on its planned conversion of existing Voting Points to Polling Units in order to provide more access to polling units to citizens. He expressed satisfaction with the wide acceptance of the move by Nigerians. What was left according to him, was the verification of the newly established polling units. According to the Chairman, “the Commission successfully concluded stakeholder engagements on the expansion of voter access to Polling Units. I am glad to inform you that the option of converting existing Voting Points and Voting Point Settlements into full-fledged Polling Units and situating them in the most agreeable locations to support increased voter access was overwhelmingly accepted by Nigerians.
“Consequently, the Commission has, in the last three weeks concluded the actual exercise as well as the verification of the newly established Polling Units. In the next few days, the Commission will meet to finalise the compilation and coding of Polling Units and thereafter make the information public”.