The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) counted the losses caused by incessant attacks on its offices since 2019.
According to INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, the attacks which have been across 14 states cost the body about 1,105 ballot boxes, 429 generator sets, 13 vehicles, and other tangle assets.
Yakubu while speaking at an emergency meeting with security agencies convened under the inter-agency consultative committee on election security in Abuja on Thursday said the attacks are a major threat to INEC’s scheduled activities.
“In the last two years, the commission has recorded a total of 41 incidents involving deliberate attacks on the Commission’s facilities. Nine of these incidents happened in 2019 and 21 cases in 2020.
“In the last four weeks, 11 offices of the commission were either set ablaze or vandalized. Two of these incidents were caused by Boko Haram and Bandit attacks while 10 resulted from thuggery during the election and post-election violence. However, the majority of the attacks (29 out of 41) were unrelated to election or electoral activities.
“In fact, 18 of them occurred during the EndSARS protests in October last year while 11 attacks were organized by ‘unknown gunmen’ and ‘hoodlums’.
” Although the commission is assessing the loss of materials during recent attacks, our preliminary assessment so far indicates that we lost 1,105 ballot boxes, 694 voting cubicles, 429 electric generating sets, and 13 utility vehicles (Toyota Hilux).”
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