The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the reported attack on one of its Permanent Voter Card collection centres in Osun State will not deter it from conducting a free, fair and credible governorship election in the state.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Dayo Oketola, gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
NAN reports that some suspected hoodlums on Sunday stormed an INEC PVC collection centre located at Oyinlola DC School, Ward 2, Okuku, attacking staff members on duty and carting away electoral materials, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices and PVCs.
Oketola, however, told NAN that the incident had been formally reported to the police, adding that an investigation had commenced.
“The Osun incident has been reported to the police. As we speak, it is already public knowledge that the police have started an investigation,” Oketola said.
He expressed confidence that the police would apprehend the suspects and recover the stolen commission assets.
“As a commission, we trust that the police will be diligent in their investigation, track those suspects, get them arrested and ensure they face the wrath of the law. We also trust that they’ll be able to recover our devices, including the BVAS that were reportedly carted away,” he added.
Oketola maintained that despite the attack, INEC’s operational preparations for the upcoming election remained firmly on track.
“It is a matter already under investigation, I cannot actually comment too much on it. But I know that that cannot distract INEC from carrying out the activities preceding the Osun governorship election. INEC cannot be distracted. We will conduct a free and fair election in Osun. That incident cannot distract us. The election will go on as planned, and we expect it to be free, fair and credible at the end of the day,” he said.
He disclosed that, as part of preparations, the commission was embarking on a pre-assessment tour of the state to evaluate operational readiness and engage key local stakeholders.
Oketola also stated that a total of 4,427 BVAS devices had been configured for the governorship election, including 664 backup units, which could cater for any incident before and during the election.
“Whatever was carted away will be replaced. Out of the 4,427 BVAS, we have 664 prepared as backups. There is no way whatever happened can disrupt our plans for the election,” he assured.
The chief press secretary described the stealing of PVCs as an exercise in futility, given the strict biometric verification required by BVAS technology.
“Nobody can use another person’s PVC to vote in an election in Nigeria again. The era of ghost voters is gone. With BVAS, you must tender your PVC and undergo biometric authentication. The technology has been tightened in such a manner that nobody can use another person’s identity to vote any longer in Nigeria,” Oketola said.
He assured registered Nigerians that necessary administrative measures would also be taken by the commission to ensure that no voter would be disenfranchised in the state as a result of the incident. He called on all stakeholders to collaborate with the commission to protect the nation’s electoral assets and ensure a peaceful voting environment.
