The Independent National Electoral Commission has warned transport unions saddled with delivery of the logistics for Saturday’s council elections in Abuja to adhere strictly to agreed arrangements.

INEC chairman, Joash Amupitan, gave the warning at a meeting with leaders of transport unions in Abuja, ahead of the elections.

He said that the commission would not tolerate excuses that could undermine the process.

A statement by INEC director of voter education and publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, listed the unions as the National Union of Road Transport Workers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.

Mr Amupitan described transport logistics as the backbone of electoral operations, adding that the success of the elections would depend largely on the timely and efficient movement of materials and personnel across the six area councils.

“An election can only be as good as its logistics,” he said, adding that INEC expected sound and serviceable vehicles, in line with agreed specifications in the memorandum of understanding with the unions.

The INEC disclosed that it engaged about 1,132 vehicles to support the movement of election materials in the 2,822 polling units across the 10 wards in the five area councils and 12 wards in AMAC.

According to him, a total of 570 candidates are contesting the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship positions, in addition to councillorship seats.

Mr Amupitan expressed concern over past experiences in the deployment of vehicles during elections.

He cited instances where unserviceable vehicles were deployed as well as some not available to perform the election duty.

He noted, with regret, that in one case, INEC had to activate alternative arrangements to avert operational setbacks.

Mr Amupitan said that INEC would not accept excuses, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that could jeopardise the timely delivery of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to registration area centres and polling units.

“Our target is for voting to commence at 8:30 a.m. For that to happen, materials must arrive at polling units by 7:00 a.m. or 7:30 a.m., which means that vehicles must depart RACs as early as 6:00 a.m.,” he said.

The chairman also directed electoral officers in the FCT to closely supervise the implementation of logistics agreements at the area council level.

Emphasising the national and international attention on the election, Mr Amupitan described the FCT as “the heart of Nigeria”.

He said that all stakeholders must demonstrate patriotism and commitment to safeguarding electoral materials.

The INEC chairman urged the unions to deploy their internal disciplinary mechanisms to ensure that members adhered strictly to the commission’s guidelines, particularly in preventing incidents such as diversion or hijacking of materials.

The director of legal services of NURTW, Mercy Ibeh, acknowledged that the issues raised by INEC were familiar and regularly formed part of the engagements between the unions and electoral authorities.

Ms Ibeh noted that the level of success recorded in elections often depends on the depth of dialogue and collaboration between stakeholders.

She said that the union had, over several months, engaged extensively with the FCT office of the commission to identify challenges and propose workable solutions.

While referring to previous operational difficulties experienced during the Anambra election, she stated that the union had formally communicated its concerns to INEC at the time.

She added that some of the challenges encountered were beyond the union’s control.

Ms Ibeh expressed optimism that with the issues discussed and solutions proffered during the current engagement, many of the earlier challenges would be addressed going forward.

She also appealed for support toward strengthening the transport capacity of the union, noting that improved access to serviceable vehicles would enhance performance during elections.

The FCT chairman of NURTW, Abdullahi Dauda, assured INEC of the union’s commitment to delivering on its obligations.

Mr Dauda said that the union had held discussions with the FCT resident electoral commissioner on identified gaps and had agreed on measures to resolve them.

Mr Dauda further assured that designated officers would monitor and verify vehicle deployment across wards and ensure that drivers report promptly for election duty.

He expressed the confidence that the arrangements put in place would make the forthcoming FCT election remarkably different in terms of logistics performance.

(NAN)