The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the amount expended on the rehabilitation of its burnt office and materials is the reason for the high cost of the Anambra gubernatorial election.
Recall that on May 23, gunmen burnt the commission’s office in Awka, Anambra state, and also destroyed some sensitive and non-sensitive materials.
INEC’s commissioner for information and voter education, Festus Okoye while commenting on the election scheduled to take place on November 6 said the cost is high because of the “unusual circumstances”.
Okoye spoke on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Thursday.
He said the electoral commission had to replace 326 generating sets, rebuild the facility where electoral materials are stored, and also replaced non-sensitive materials.
Although he was unable to disclose the amount expended on the Anambra election, he said it is costlier than the Edo and Ondo gubernatorial elections.
“We are conducting this election in a very unusual circumstance, this is because we had to rebuild our offices in Nnewi North and Idemili north, where our local government offices were burnt,” he said.
“We had to replace over 326 generating sets that we mopped up from our local government offices and stored in the headquarters thinking that it would be more secure.
“We also had to rebuild our stores, where we normally store non-sensitive materials. We had to also replace over 60percent of the non sensitive materials we already deployed to our Akwa office, getting ready for this election.
“We had to repay six utility vehicles that were all burnt, we almost had to rebuild our state office that was also burnt.
“So, in terms of cost, it’s been very very costly and we can’t compare it to Ondo and Edo states elections, because we are in unusual circumstances, we had to do things differently.
“We are hopeful that when we get to Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, things will calm down much better and things will return to its normal trajectory.”