The Independent National Electoral Commission has lost no fewer than 9,836 smart card readers in over 42 attacks on its offices and staff in three years.
Also, more than 1,149 persons, including INEC employees and security officers were killed in the three elections held in 2011, 2015 and 2019. Ballot papers, cubicles and other materials were similarly destroyed.
Last Friday, an INEC worker identified as Anthony Nwokorie, was shot dead by gunmen while conducting the continuous voter registration in the Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State.
A viral video showed the hoodlums forcing registrants to lie on the ground while destroying registration materials and vowing that elections would not hold in the South-East.
Following the violent assaults on its assets and staff, the electoral body has expressed fears over the 2023 elections, stating that there would be no results at polling units where violent incidents were orchestrated.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, warned that no return would be made where violence was deliberately precipitated to undermine the electoral process.
Describing the attacks on the commission as regrettable, the resident electoral commissioner assured Nigerians that the body was devising strategies to protect its offices, assets and personnel ahead of the 2023 general election.
Igini, a lawyer, said it was a disgrace that the political elite prepared for elections as if going to war, noting that the election period should be a time of stock-taking and Election Day, a day for renewing the journey of the country for a new direction.
Responding to a question about what was being done to better protect INEC employees, assets, and voters, he said a risk assessment would be conducted to evaluate hazards and risks before the general election, including “mapping of persons of interests and so on,” by the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee.
Igini stated, “There are things that will be done but much of it cannot be a matter for publication. However, it is important, if we must reassure the voting public for the commission to work with stakeholders to ensure that a speedy example is made with some people to convey the message to the public that there is zero tolerance for such hazards and that voters will not only be protected, but also seen to be protected.”
Asked if results in places that recorded violent incidents would be cancelled, the REC said, “There has to be an election first before talking of result cancellation. Where violence is orchestrated deliberately to undermine the process, there will be no return made and nothing to cancel.
“Cancellation of election results is a sensitive process that follows a step-wise statutory procedure of auditing because as I pointed out above, political actors may also foment violence for electoral purposes. If results are justifiably cancelled, it will be such as not to reward deliberately orchestrated electoral violence.”
On whether there would be special security arrangements for electoral officials during the 2023 polls, Igini said, “If necessary, yes; if the risk analysis requires special measures, they have to be in place for the affected area, otherwise, the commission will have to give notice as we have always done in the past that the conditions are not conducive.”
Investigations by The PUNCH indicate that the electoral body had lost assets estimated at billions of naira to violence carried out by thugs and other hired hoodlums.
According to INEC, over 41 attacks, excluding the one in Imo State on Friday, have been carried out against its offices across 14 states since the 2019 general election, with the South-East recording 13 attacks.
The attacks which started in Abia on May 9 spread to Enugu and Ebonyi, with three incidents each; Imo, with two attacks; and Anambra and Abia with one each and in Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states.
In all, the electoral body recorded nine attacks in 2019, 21 incidents in 2020 and over 12 as of May 2021. It also lost 9,836 smart card readers, 345 ballot boxes, and 135 voting cubicles, among other assets.
For instance, on February 12, 2019, shortly before the general election, two containers loaded with 4,695 smart card readers were destroyed along with other sensitive materials in a mysterious fire at the Anambra State headquarters of INEC.
The commission estimated in its budget that each card reader cost N167, 063 while each memory card cost N6,000.
It was estimated that based on INEC’s budget for such sensitive materials, the loss incurred was about N847m which also included batteries and Secure Access Module cards.
Similarly, on September 10, 2020, just before the Ondo State governorship election, about 5,141 card readers were destroyed in a fire at the INEC head office in Akure.
Based on then budget estimates, the Akure fire was expected to have cost INEC nothing less than N900m. Weeks before the election on February 3, 2019, the INEC office in the Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State was burnt down in mysterious circumstances.
In the same state, the commission’s facilities in the Arochukwu Local Government Area was vandalised in October 2020 while that of Aba South was completely burnt in December.
The electoral body’s office in Ohafia was also set ablaze on May 9, 2021, while the one in the Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom was razed on May 2, 2021. Items destroyed include 345 ballot boxes, 135 voting cubicles, megaphones, water tanks and office furniture.
On the eve of the 2019 general election, INEC’s newly constructed prototype local government office in Ibesikpo Asutan was burnt down, while two more offices in the Mkpat Enin and Eastern Obolo LGAs were also bombed.
