The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned transport operators in Ekiti State under the auspices of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) not to sabotage its efforts at conducting credible, free and fair governorship elections on 20 June through poor transport arrangements.

National Commissioners of the commission, led by Prof Sani Adams, warned that any transporter who sabotages the efforts of the commission would be arrested and prosecuted for breach of contract.

They protested previous attempts by transporters to hold the commission to ransom over logistics arrangements and appealed to the union to ensure they met their end of the bargain by providing the number of vehicles required while also ensuring all drivers were paid for their services.

“This is a contract between Nigerians and your union. It is not about INEC. The entire world is watching. Please don’t bring vehicles that did not meet the specifications. If you have to rent the vehicles, please bring those in good condition and pay the drivers. We don’t want a situation where the drivers will hold us to ransom on election day insisting on being paid before moving.

“Also, let them know that the reverse logistics is part of the contract. When they take our men and materials to the field, they are expected to bring them back to the office and not abandon them in the field,” Prof Sani Adams said.

Addressing the transport union, INEC Chairman Prof Joash Amupitan expressed concern over the seeming friction between the National Union of Road Transport Workers and their counterparts in the National Association of Road Transport Owners, saying such friction could affect the integrity of the elections in the state.

He told the unions that they would have to work together for the purpose of the elections, adding that transport logistics was a major component of the success of any election, saying “your elections can only be as good as your transport logistics.”

He said while the commission did not have vehicles of its own to meet the demands of elections, it could always look elsewhere but chose to work with the transport unions because of their reach.

He told them not to collect money for vehicles they could not provide, adding that the logistics arrangements for the elections must be well planned to avoid last-minute problems, drawing attention to what happened during the Anambra elections.

He stressed that experience had shown that the union often did not have enough vehicles but preferred to rent and ended up bringing fewer vehicles than the required number.

He reminded them that both international and local observers accredited to monitor the elections always ended up monitoring fewer than 100 polling units and based their assessments on those units, while looking out for negativity in the elections.

He said: “We must not give them any negative things to report about the elections. Let them look for and not find. Tell us what you can do and what you cannot do. Don’t lie to us.”

Head of Organisation and Industrial Relations at the NURTW headquarters in Abuja, Olayioye Adesina, told the commission that the seeming disagreement between NURTW and NARTO was a result of the fact that NARTO had no vehicles in Ekiti and should not be part of election logistics.

He said any disappointment from NARTO would be blamed on his union, hence their insistence that even though NARTO was party to the MoU, it should not be allowed to participate in the elections.

He assured that his union would deliver on the agreement between them and the commission in the overall interest of the election and Nigerians. (Nigerian Tribune)