Speaking on the late arrival of electoral materials in the on-going Ondo governorship election, Mr Igini, who was a guest on Channels Television’s weekend show, Sunrise, said that the lack of trust of electoral officers is the main reason why electoral materials are always delayed before they are deplored to the various polling booths.
According to the INEC official, “a lot of people that should be in prison in public offices in Nigeria and they are also aspiring to make their way into public offices.”
“The electoral materials for this Ondo election had arrived Akure over a week ago but because there is no trust for the electoral officers, we have to ensure that adequate security is provided before the materials move.”
“We have to do this because if we leave the officials alone, we don’t know what they might do with the materials. They might probably take it to their homes” he alleged.
He likened this experience to a similar one during the last elections in Cross-River state, where he stated that the election materials were ready to be deployed but the delay in arrival of police officers that will accompany the materials and the electoral officers led to the late arrival at polling booths.”
This he explains is why “trust is a major issue we have to work on in this country.”
Mr Igini also added that about 9,230 ad-hoc staff was recruited for the governorship election in Ondo state because the electoral commission has just about 300 staff in the state..
He however noted that the deployment of 7,000 officers of the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and 11,000 police and military officers is a good sign that the election will be free of violence and other security challenges as this is a good enough guarantee for a good election exercise.
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