IPOB’s sit-at-home order affected Feb. 25 elections in Imo: INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the sit-at-home directive imposed on residents in the state by the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) adversely affected the last presidential and National Assembly elections.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Prof. Sylvia Agu told newsmen during the exercise that the commission would strive to ensure early and timely distribution of materials from the various local government council secretariats to the polling units to avoid a repeat of such.

According to her, the directive forced members of the Nigeria Union of Road Transporter Workers (NURTW) to stay off the road, thereby affecting the movement of electoral materials to polling units.

“That was what led to the late deployment of materials to the various polling units.

“But we have made additional arrangements to transport materials during this Saturday’s election besides the arrangement with NURTW,” she said.

Ms Agu said the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would enable the upload of election results seamlessly.

“We have been doing refreshers training since last week. We have not rested because of what happened three weeks ago.

“What happened then was a sabotage, but we have been training our POs, APOs and SPOs since last week

“We are doing our best to salvage our name. We have done our best as mortal beings. I believe God will help us,” Ms Agu stressed.

She also maintained that adequate security measures had been put in place to ensure peaceful conduct of the poll particularly in troubled areas including Okigwe, Orlu and Orsu, among others.

(NAN)