On Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said the Edo office’s damaged facilities would be replaced before the September 21 governorship election.

Mr Yakubu said this during an on-the-spot assessment of the damage caused to its facilities by the flood disaster occasioned by torrential rain in Benin on May 24.

The flood disaster destroyed some voter enrollment machines already configured for the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

Speaking after the facilities were inspected, Mr Yakubu said he was in Benin to assess the level of damage and immediately offer solutions to whatever problems arose from the disaster.

He said the flood disaster would not hinder the smooth conduct of the governorship election in the state, adding that the commission would assess what was damaged and respond appropriately.

He expressed joy that no life was lost to the flood.

“This is not a regular visit. We are here to see what happened to our facilities after the flooding that occurred on Friday, May 24.

“I came here with the Director of ICT because some machines were destroyed and I also came with the federal controller of works because he would be helping us to address the flooding problems in and around the INEC office in Benin.

“Providing working equipment and ensuring a conducive work environment is as crucial as paying salaries. So we will ensure that we fix the damaged facilities before the election,” he said.

The INEC chairman also disclosed that the CVR exercise would continue in spite of the damage caused by the flood disaster. However, he described the registrant turnout as impressive and stressed that the damaged facilities pose no threat to the ongoing CVR and election.

“We took proactive measure to ensure that the CVR was not affected by calling for additional resources from neighbouring states since INEC was one national body,” said Mr Yakubu.

(NAN)