October 28, 2021

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the “unusual circumstances” in Anambra has made the cost of conducting the governorship election in the state high, compared to those of Ondo and Edo States.

The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of the Commission, Festus Okoye explained, “We are conducting this election in a very unusual circumstance, this is because we had to rebuild our offices in Nnewi North and Idemili north, where our local government offices were burnt.”

Speaking on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily Okoye said the amount expended on the rehabilitation of its burnt office and materials is the reason for the high cost of the Anambra election.

“It’s been very very costly and we can’t compare it to Ondo and Edo states elections, because we are in very unusual circumstances, we had to do things differently.

“We had to replace six utility vehicles that were burnt and we almost had to rebuild our state office that was also burnt,” he added.

“We had to replace over 326 generating sets that we mopped up from our local government offices and stored in the headquarters thinking that it would be more secure.

“We also had to rebuild our stores, where we normally store non-sensitive materials. We had to also replace over 60 percent of the non-sensitive materials we already deployed to our Akwa office, getting ready for this election”.