The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says that the Army and the Department of State Services (DSS) have been sent to protect its offices in Imo State because they have been attacked so often.
The Isu Local Government Area (LGA) INEC office was attacked and vandalized by youths just 24 hours prior, making it the fourth similar event to occur in Imo in less than three weeks. More attacks were reported in the LGAs of Orlu and Oru West, as well as in the state capital of Owerri.
Prof. Sylvia Agu, the state’s resident electoral commissioner (REC), talked live on Friday’s episode of Sunrise Daily on Channels Television about the security situation.
Security personnel have been stationed there and have been dispatched. We have the DSS, Civil Defense, and Army at the headquarters. “We use vigilante organizations in the various local governments, including the Ebubeagu group, and we have complete confidence in the security personnel since they are actually on the ground,” she said.
The Election Party Monitoring Department (EPM), security, the transport office, and a portion of the accounting building are all housed in that specific facility. Although it is extremely devastating, we give God praise for sparing our priceless items.
Agu said that the attacks weren’t that bad when he talked about the effects of INEC’s work in the state. He did this by saying that the commission kept backups to make sure it didn’t lose a lot of data.
Because we have a backup for the accounts section, it’s actually not a big deal. There isn’t much in the transportation sector. There are pieces of furniture there. We are prepared in the EPM office. We have backups for all the things that burned.
“For the security office, nothing significant occurred.” “We regularly build backups in case of these types of occurrences since we are aware of our vulnerability and do so in order to always have access to our backups in the event that something like this does occur,” she said.
Permanent voter cards (PVCs) and other delicate materials were unaffected, according to the REC, which also noted that PVC distribution remained on track. She claims that distribution does not occur at the attacked location.
“The turnout was overwhelmingly positive.” We receive a large number of reports every day as a result of our nonstop labor.Although I’ve even instructed them to stay until 5 p.m., they begin at 8 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, we are really busy with individuals picking up their PVCs from us.
In all of those vulnerable locations, we have vigilante organizations. There, the cops are stationed and deployed. You won’t be aware of them. We are unable to share our plans with the public, but I can assure you that INEC is prepared and that we are working nonstop to make 2023 a reality.
