The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the recent increase in petrol prices will have no effect on the conduct of the Edo governorship election.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, stated this while fielding questions from journalists at a pre-election news conference in Abuja on Saturday.
Oyekanmi stated that the commission had already met with representatives from the National Union of Road Transport Workers over the new development.
“Well, first of all, I am aware that the commission met with the officials of the NURTW to discuss this matter, and I’m sure the resolution was reached.
“Of course, when you are planning for an election, you have what is called contingency because you don’t know what can happen. There could be changes and all of that.
“So, we don’t expect transporters to operate at a loss. If oil has gone up, for instance, and they now want some increment, this could be discussed.
“Like I said, I wasn’t part of the meeting, but the meeting was held, and I’m sure some agreement was reached.
“We have to conduct that election. So, I don’t think that will cause some problems,” he said.
Oyeknami also stated that the commission had implemented measures to prevent prefilled result sheets witnessed in Kogi from reoccurring in Edo or future elections.
He said, “I can assure you that the Commission took active steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“In fact, our result sheets cannot be forged because they are custom-made. They have security features, but nobody knows what those security features will be.
“So, INEC has been able to perfect that aspect, that if you go ahead and print result sheets, you have just wasted your time because you will not have access to what we have, and you will not be able to make use of it.
“Again, our resource management process takes care of errant behaviour like that.”
Oyekanmi assured Nigerians that it would not be possible to collate results in any polling unit where the election is not held in Edo.
