Kogi Explosion: No INEC Office Was Affected, Commission Gives Update On Polls

Following the explosion of some parts of Kogi State by suspected terrorists, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has come out to confirm that none of its offices in the state was affected.

Naija News reported earlier that there was a commotion on Monday evening in the Okehi Local Government Area (LGA) of Kogi State after some unknown gunmen suspected to be terrorists reportedly blew off the administrative offices in the area.

According to SaharaReporters, the attacked building is close to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facility in the local government area.

It could be recalled that the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, had claimed responsibility for several attacks in the state recently.

However, in his reaction, the Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Hale Longpet on Tuesday confirmed that non of the INEC offices were bombed in the incident.

According to him, even though the INEC office is close to the local government Secretariat, it was the Okehi Local government council Secretariat that was attacked and not the INEC office.

While speaking about the readiness of the commission in the state for the polls on Saturday, Longpet disclosed that 3,508 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, (BVAS) devices have been deployed for the Presidential, House of Representatives and State House Assembly election in Kogi State.

The INEC commissioner explained that even malfunctioning BVAS that were discovered during the INEC mock exercise has been replaced by the many back-ups.

He remarked that the commission in the state has deployed material to all Local Government Areas and the sensitive materials sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the state have been inspected too.

The Kogi State REC told pressmen at a briefing in Lokoja, the state capital that only material meant for the Presidential, Senatorial, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly elections was sent to the state.

Giving his comment about the state of security and the conduct of the election, Longpet observed that the safety of voters in exercising their rights will be guaranteed.

He noted that the security agencies have assured the commission that all voters including their staff will be safe before, during and after the election, noting the incident of yesterday’s explosion has also been reported to them.

The commissioner said Kogi State is expecting 1.6 million voters who have collected their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) out of the total of 1.9 million people.