INEC engages NDLEA for Drug Tests On Ad Hoc Staff
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will engage the services of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to test its ad hoc staff for hard drugs.
It also debunked rumours that the commission’s database has been hacked.
Abduganiyu Raji, Resident Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti State, said this in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital on Thursday, at an INEC stakeholders’ meeting.
He claimed that the commision’s network is highly protected from external threat, stating that this would greatly disappoint those who have allegedly been cloning the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“Even our workers who are working in the ICT have limitations; there is a limit to which they can go. In clear terms, the cloned PVCs can’t work with our smart card readers,” he said.
“We heard people are selling their PVCs; this would not help anybody. But how can people be selling their future? Even if you are given a sum of N20,000, would that be enough to take you throughout four years? So, our people must stop selling their future.”
He also bemoaned the high number of uncollected PVCs still in INEC’s custody, stating that 256,648 out of the 921,027 total registered voters in the Ekiti state are yet to collect their PVCs.
He added that the commission was hiring the services of the Police and the NDLEA. While the Police would determine if adhoc staff had criminal records, the NDLEA would determine if the staff were users of hard drugs.
“We can’t use criminals to conduct elections or drug abusers and be expecting good results,” he said.
