The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has begun the evacuation of sensitive electoral materials deposited by its leadership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
This is authoritative.
INEC has a cooperation pact with the CBN which enables it to store critical but sensitive materials required for elections in this country with the banker’s bank.
INEC which is gradually concluding its plans to commence preparations for the 2023 general elections has already announced it would embark on the revalidation of voters throughout the country as from June this year.
We have learnt through credible sources that INEC officials have been dispatched round the country to retrieve what is left of sensitive materials used in the 2019 general elections from the vaults of the Central Bank.
The items include spread sheets and other forms used in the declaration of Senatorial, House of Representatives, Gubernatorial and House of Assembly results.
We have also learnt that unused ballot papers as well as other items that INEC left with the Apex Bank for safe keeping are being retrieved.
An INEC team that is currently in the South South is in Benin, the Edo State capital where they are taking delivery of the remnants of materials that were used in the last gubernatorial elections.
“The idea”, said a top official at the INEC headquarters, “is to create room for the gradual delivery of fresh materials of a sensitive nature which would be kept under the care of the Central Bank.”
The team which is expected to leave Edo at the weekend is to arrive the Rivers State capital at the start of next week in continuation of the exercise.