The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied entering into a contract with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State or other transport unions to convey materials for them on Election Day.
There have been reports that the INEC in Lagos State has contracted the Lagos State Parks Management Committee led by Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo to convey election materials for the Commission.
But speaking on a monitored Channels Television programme on Thursday, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the electoral umpire does not have any contract with the transport body or any other transport unions, ValidViewNetwork reports.
“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 vehicles that the commission needs or for the purposes of this election is just mischievous,” Okoye said.
He said that INEC’s MoU with the transport unions is for accountability in case a driver absconds or does not turn up for duty.
Okoye also assured that INEC was prepared against any possible cyber-attacks, particularly as it affects the transmission of results on election day, noting that the commission had a “robust system” in place to prevent attacks.
“Every platform is susceptible to attacks. What is important is the type of defences that you provide for your networks. As far as the commission is concerned, our defences are robust. But you know, no army goes into war by disclosing its defences to the enemy. As far as we are concerned, those who attack our platforms are the enemies of democracy. And we are not going to explain or even disclose to them the type of defences we have provided, or we have we have in place.
“What I want to assure Nigerians, and the Chairman has assured Nigerians, is that our defences are robust. We have also engaged ethical hackers to attempt to hack into our platforms, and from what we have seen, and from what we have tested, our defences are robust, and we assure Nigerians that we are ready for the conduct of this election.”
