2023: ‘You Must Swear Oath’ – INEC Chairman Tells Transport Union Members Conveying Election Officials, Materials

…As Over 100,000 Vehicles, 4,200 Boats, Gunboats To Move Election Materials Across Nigeria

Transport union workers who would be engaged by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to move election officials and material across Nigeria would be required to swear an oath pledging to be neutral in their conduct ahead of the 2023 election.

INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this to the leadership of the unions during the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the provision of vehicles and boats to move election officials and materials before and after the polls.

The unions include the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN).

“A new requirement in the new electoral legal framework is that everyone involved in election duties must subscribe to the INEC Oath/Affirmation of Neutrality.

“We will therefore require your members to swear and strictly adhere to this oath and the INEC Code of Conduct for Electoral Officials as your participation in the delivery of electoral logistics requires absolute neutrality and non-partisanship,” said Yakubu.

The INEC boss revealed that more than 100,000 vehicles, boats, and gunboats would be deployed to move election materials and officials to different parts of Nigeria ahead of the country’s 2023 general election.

Now fewer than one million INEC personnel and ad-hoc staff as well as election materials would be transported to 774 Local Government Areas, 8,809 electoral wards, and 176,846 polling units during the forthcoming national and state elections to be held on February 25 and March 11, 2023.

Yakubu said the agreement with the transport unions was reviewed to include the marine transport union to address the “logistics nightmares” experienced in riverine areas during previous elections.

He said, “The Memorandum of Understanding we are about to sign today is a general framework. The contractual agreement between the Commission and the actual service providers will be worked out at the State & LGA level between officials of the Unions & our RECss and Electoral Officers

“It is our expectation that the leadership of the unions will effectively supervise their members in the various chapters and branches for the full implementation of the MoU.”

“In doing so, you will be required to work very closely with our RECs and collaborate with the Federal Regulatory & Safety Agencies to ensure that the objectives of the MoU are fully realised in terms of required road/sea worthiness & safety standards of your vehicles and boats.”

He added that security agencies would be available to escort all vehicles and boats to locations and also ensure the safety and protection of all election personnel and materials.

“As usual, we shall track the movement of all vehicles and boats electronically and in real time to ensure that election personnel and materials are not hijacked or diverted.

“Learning from the experience of the past, I would like to appeal to all the Unions and service providers to abide by the spirit and letter of the MoU and the contract agreements respectively.

“They must see their role as a national call to duty by ensuring that there is no failure on their part, especially on the eve of elections when it is too late for the Commission to make alternative arrangements,” he said.

Yakubu stressed that the leadership of the unions must “keep an eye on your members to ensure that when they take personnel and materials to designated locations, they also bring them back at the end of the elections. Your contract is for both forward and reverse logistics.”