The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it does not enter into a contract with the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Lagos State or other transport unions to convey materials for them on Election Day.
Festus Okoye, National Commissioner of INEC and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, said that neither the organization nor any other transport unions had a contract with the election umpire.
“This Commission will employ at least 138,000 automobiles for the 2023 election, and we have done so in the past.
We have hired boats in the past, and this Commission will employ at least 4,000 boats, in addition to at least 88,000 motorcycles.
“Now the Commission enters into individual contracts with the vehicle owners; we don’t enter into any form of contract with the union. What we have with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and with the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the Marine Union is what we call a Memorandum of Understanding. We don’t enter into a contract with them. So, the issue of the name of an individual being mentioned to the effect that the individual is going to provide all the vehicle that the commission needs or for the purposes of this election is just mischievous,” Okoye said.
According to him, the purpose of INEC’s MoU with the transport unions is to ensure accountability in the event that a driver runs away or fails to report for duty.
Mr Okoye said the Commission handles each state differently depending on its unique characteristics.
He added that the Supervising National Commissioner in Lagos State has guaranteed a smooth process.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) performed satisfactorily during the recent mock accreditation exercise that was undertaken in 436 polling units, according to the INEC National Commissioner and other observers.
Writing by Adeniyi Bakare; editing by Julian Osamoto