 Between 2019 and 2021, about 19 officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission have been gotted by fire. The most of the incidents have occurred in majorly three states, namely Aqaibom, Abiyah, Anambara and Imo State. Others are Borunum, Eboni, Kranu, the FCT, Ondo and others. While some were burnt by hoodlums, others took place under mysterious circumstances. But all these attacks be a means to undermine the upcoming 2023 elections. And also, what are the financial implications of these attacks? Well, joining us to discuss this is Fester Sokoye. He is the Chairman Information and Voter Education for the Independent National Electoral Commission. He's joining us live from Abuja. Thank you very much, Mr. Sokoye, for joining us. Thank you so much. I mean, the first question on everybody's minds is why is INEC all of a sudden a target and why is Ahsen the order of the day for 19 of your offices? Well, we really don't want to speculate relating to the motives for this particular attack. But as you know, INEC offices are part of the symbols of our democracy and the house sensitive and non-sensitive electro materials. So when these offices are attacked, they destroy sensitive electro materials. They destroy this part of the symbols of our democracy. And they also lead to, it also leads to a setback in relation to our preparations for elections. Unfortunately, some of these offices we are prototype offices. Some of them we are really renovated, preparedly to the conduct of the 2023 elections. But what we are having within a period of three weeks, we had attacks in three of our offices. So many materials were destroyed. Cubicles were destroyed. Ballot boxes were destroyed. Generators were destroyed. Sensitive electro materials were destroyed. GP tanks were destroyed and so on. So we are really, really worried because we feel and we have felt that it is important for us to begin early to prepare for the 2023 elections. And we have audited all the materials in all our 774 local governments to know the materials we still have in stock and also the ones we have where there is a shortfall so that we can begin to replace some of these materials before the 2023 elections. But with this pet of attacks, it's difficult for us to really keep a tap of what we have and what we need to replace and it's quite unfortunate. It makes me really wonder, when INEC does finish elections and life continues as it was, is there a concern for where these things are stored? What is the protection level that is being put? Because I mean I've driven by, I've gone to, I've interviewed people in INEC offices and it's not as secure as one would want it to be. Is it because maybe you didn't see this coming, you didn't expect that these kind of things would be happening? I mean you have been in the field over and over and you've seen people take ballot boxes and people come with guns. Why not protect the offices where these ballot boxes and polling, you know, offices are? Why can't we think of that? I know, I mean the government does have, it's what costs us for is we're dealing with Boko Haram and Banditry. I mean this is another issue to be brought to the attention of the federal government but can INEC look at other ways of securing its offices, especially because of the sensitive materials that are in them? You know, the conduct of elections is a massive electoral operation and because it's a massive electoral operation, the commission has zonas stones where some materials are kept, both sensitive and non-sensitive materials. And then we also keep some of the materials at our local government offices and we try as much as possible to employ security guards to protect some of these materials. But when you have a person who is determined to work on our offices, there's very, very little you can do. And you know that our country is going through a very, very difficult period now through a very, very challenging phase. The security agencies are having their own challenges and their own difficulty. And then the commission is also having difficulty keeping track of some of our offices and also protecting them to the extent that we can secure our electoral materials. And it is on the basis of this that the commission has someone an emergency meeting with all these residential electoral commissioners for one of the next week and thereafter on Friday, we are going to meet at the level of the Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security with all the security agencies for us to map out clear strategies on how to protect this national access, these national monuments and these symbols of our democracy. You don't some of the materials that we have in these offices, you don't buy them off the shelf. And some of these materials take between six months and 12 months to procure. So when these materials are pumped, it creates very challenging problems for us. Now, for instance, these local government offices, we have just finished or teaching the materials we have in these offices. These offices and the staff in these offices are in charge of the expansion of voter access to the polling units that we are carrying out. And they have just completed that particular process. We are about to restart the continuous voter registration exercise and they are the managing directors of this particular exercise. So when you bond these offices and change the staff away, the implication is that you want electoral activities to come to a halt. And that is very dangerous for democracy because some of the elections we conduct are time bound that are circumscribed by timelines. And when you don't conform to those timelines and time frames, you create a constitutional crisis. And that is why we are starting early and we are preparing early. And these attacks are who set back on our preparations for the 2023 general election. It makes me want to push you a bit more on this because I remember the drama that happened before INEC was able to get the finances for preparations for the last elections that we had. And 2023 is just around the corner. You just have one year in between and a couple of months before the end of 2021. And you're talking about procurement and the timeline. So obviously we have a setback right now. But of course you have to still make, like you said, you've taken an inventory. You're still going to have to come up with an invoice or an inventory, another inventory for the ones that you have lost to the National Assembly asking for funding. And of course, if that stretches, it also affects the time that you need to get these things back into the country for us to have an election. So where does that leave us in 2023, knowing how things happen in Nigeria and the length of time that it takes? Well, this commission is determined not to allow some of these things to set us back in relation to our plans and preparations for the 2023 general election. But the implication is that some of these local governments, we are not going to have the services of our main office for the running of this election. Because if you want to reconstruct these offices, you have to award contracts, conform to a procurement act, conform to some other things, and then get these offices ready. So the implication is that we may have to conduct these elections and some of the electoral activities from a rented office. And secondly, we have to also approve the National Assembly to appropriate funds for the reconstruction of these offices whenever they need to reconstruct them. And then for some of the materials that have been damaged, we have to also approve the National Assembly for purposes of procuring them. And so that is not a very comfortable position to be in. But we are determined not to allow these setbacks to roll back some of the gains we have made. We are going to recover quickly and we are going to make sure that some of these setbacks do not affect our preparations for the 2023 elections. So we are determined to put through with the 2023 elections despite all these challenges and despite all these setbacks. I'm going to ask you a question that you may choose to answer or you may choose not to answer. Many have called this a sabotage of sorts and many have said that people are angry with INEC as to the fact that they've considered some of the results and the electioneering process skewed, they're not free, not necessarily credible. Do you think that this is why INEC has been targeted? I really believe that the confidence of the Nigerian people in relation to the activities of the Commission has increased in the last few years. I just came back from verification exercise in all the states in the Northwest and the people are very happy with some of the policies and programs that we have put in place. And Nigerians are looking forward to the resumption of the continuous registration of voters. So I believe that Nigerians are happy with the Commission. Nigerians believe that this Commission is on the right trajectory and that this Commission has the capacity and the courage to deliver on credible elections. If you recall, during the ensign's protest in those states, some of the protesters went to our office and only took away the flag and also commended the Commission for organizing credible elections in those states. So I believe that Nigerians are happy with the activities of the Commission. They are happy with what we did in those states. They are happy with our conduct of elections in all those states and they are happy with all the bi-elections that we have conducted. So I think that there's a new vigor and a regeneration in relation to the activities of the Commission. So I do not see this as people being angry with the Commission. I think that they see the Commission as one of the symbols of our democracy and some of the symbols of federal presence in some of these local governments. But I don't want to speculate until we have reports of investigation by the security agencies in relation to some of these attacks. Well, you have cited the fact that you've done bi-elections and bi-elections and you think that that has restored confidence. But if we were to put statistics, that's what we're statistics, the number of people that came out to vote in the 2019 elections, the 2015 elections and the elections before that, the numbers keep diminishing, they keep dropping. Is that not a pointer to the fact that people have lost hope in the votes, in the voting system because they begin to feel that or they've had the feeling over time that their votes do not necessarily count? So my question is, what is INEC going to do other than voter education to restore that confidence to the average Nigerian voter that their votes does really count and magic doesn't happen between the polling unit and of course where the results are finally being read? Well, there are so many things that account for voter party and low voter turnout during the elections and I really don't want to go into all of them. But the truth of the matter is that this expansion of access to the polling unit is that the commission is embarking on and also relocating some of the voting points and voting point settlements to either or under-served areas. We definitely increase people's access to the polling units. It will also make it impossible for some level of inclusion for persons living with disability to approach the polling units without so much hazard. It will make it possible for pregnant women to leave their houses in the morning to vote and go home. It will also make it possible for women who have children at home to spend less time at the polling units and then go home and attend to some other challenges. It will make it possible for the elderly to vote. So I believe that with all the things we are doing with this expansion of access to the polling units with the continuous voter registration exercise with the online portal that we are going to roll out there will definitely be increased activity in our polling units and we are hopeful that voter turnout will increase and then that the other stakeholders will also do their own piece to make sure that we have a very good voter turnout during subsequent elections. Well, first, as Okoye is the chairman of Information and Voter Education with the Independent National Electoral Commission. Thank you very much for speaking with us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much and I wish you the world. All right. Well, thank you all for staying with us. We'll take a short break now and when we come back, I will give you my take. Here's my take. The only thing that the average Nigerian has in as a voice at the end of the day to hold every politician accountable is their vote. Now, for every Nigerian who's lost hope out there saying, my vote doesn't count anymore, what's the essence of going up? Well, you still have that vote because whether you vote or not, you have made the choice. But wouldn't you rather make that choice consciously, making sure that you are there, you've casted your vote so that you have a right to demand for the dividends of democracy when the need arises, so that you have a voice to say, well, I came out, I voted, and you're now in office. Your responsibility is to me. Other than just staying back or saying, well, I don't care who wins or whoever gives me money, I will take. Let's stop that attitude. We need to be very, very conscious. We need to be very deliberate about our actions. I said, now, look around you. Is this the Nigeria that you're bargaining for? Is this what you were promised by the politicians when they came to your doorsteps four years ago, eight years ago, 15 years ago, or 16 years ago? Is this what you were bargaining for? Is this what you asked the politicians to do for you? Is this the life that you asked them for? Has it been better or has it been worse? This is the time for you to make that choice by making sure if you don't all have a voter's card, go get one, go get registered and get a voter's card because your vote is your power. I am Mary Annacle. Thank you for watching.