The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has clarified that the recent hike in price of petrol will not affect the conduct of the governorship election in Edo State.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, who spoke while fielding questions from journalists during a pre-election news conference in Abuja, explained that the Commission is making provisions to carry transporters along.
Oyekanmi explained that the electoral umpire was already meeting with officials of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, on the new development.
“Well, first of all, I am aware that the commission, in the last couple of days, met with the officials of the NURTW to discuss this matter, and I’m sure the resolution was reached.
“Of course, when you are planning for election, you have what is called contingency, because you don’t know what can happen. There could be changes and all of that.
“So, we don’t expect transporters to operate at a loss. If oil has gone up, for instance, and they now want some increment, this could be discussed.
“We have to conduct that election. So, I don’t think that will cause some problems,” he said.
On the Commission’s preparations for Persons Living with Disabilities, PWDs, participation in the exercise, Oyekanmi said INEC would continue to do it best for the PWDs to exercise their franchise.
He said that though the facilities, mostly public ones such as schools, used for polling units may not be purposely-built for PWDs, the electoral officers had been trained to offer the needed assistance to them to cast their votes.