The National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW in Lagos state, and other transport unions were not hired by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to handle the logistics of the 2023 general election materials.
Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, made this claim during an interview on Thursday’s episode of The 2023 Verdict on Channels Television.
Recall that there have been rumours that the INEC in Lagos State has given the Lagos State Parks Management Committee, which is run by Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, the contract for the election logistics.
Okoye claims that INEC’s Memorandum of Understanding with the transport unions is for accountability in the event that a driver flees or fails to show up for work and that the commission has no contract with the group or any other transport unions.
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The Supervising National Commissioner in Lagos State has promised a smooth process, he said, noting that the commission works with each state according to its unique characteristics.
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. The electoral umpire and other observers agreed with this statement.
The Nigerians who took part in the experiment expressed pleasure with it and thanked the Commission for the development, he said, adding that the BVAS can capture the fingerprints of registered voters or their facials.
“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.”
“For the 2023 election, this Commission is going to hire at least 138,000 vehicles and we have hired vehicles in the past. This Commission is going to hire at least 4,000 boats; we have hired boats in the past, and this Commission will hire 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.”
