By THOMPSON YAMPUT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has blamed some unseen forces for late arrival of officials and election materials in some polling units for Saturday’s Kogi governorship election.

The state INEC Voter Education and Publicity Officer, Mr Haliru Sule, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Saturday.

“As an election umpire, INEC made adequate preparations for this off circle governorship election, yet we still experienced some hitches here and there.

“To us these hitches are deliberate sabotage by some unseen forces.

“We didn’t expect the sudden dearth of vehicles that could transport our Adhoc staff and materials to their respective polling units.

“But all the same, we tried our best and overcame the challenges, which gave room for smooth and peaceful conduct of the election,” he said.

He added: “We are confident that at the end of the exercise, it would be said that it was free, fair, credible and successful.

“We are appreciative of the efforts of the security operatives at giving our personnel and the electorates adequate security cover for a peaceful and successful election.” (NAN)