Attacks won’t stop us from going ahead with 2023 election as scheduled – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission has raised an alarm over incessant attacks on some of its facilities across the country. Speaking on Monday, November 28, during a visit of the African Union Special Pre-Electoral Political Mission to the commission, INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood reiterated that the commission is ready to conduct free and fair elections, and will remain undeterred by the recent attacks.

Mahmood who also Revealed that quite a number of the materials acquired and delivered for the 2023 election have been lost due to the attacks, added that it won’t stop 2023 election from being held as scheduled. He said; “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 (Sunday).

Though there are 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.

“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.

“So, we will continue to engage with the security agencies to make sure that these offices as well as personnel and our facilities are protected ahead of the election.

“We may express some concern about the attack on these facilities, but it will never deter the commission from going ahead with the election as scheduled.” Mahmood also revealed that the commission has deployed 50% of non-sensitive materials ahead of the 2023 elections. He said; “We are confident to say at this point, three months to the election, about 50% of non-sensitive materials have been deployed to locations. We are making good progress indeed.