Three staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), serving in Borno state have lost their lives in a road accident.
The staff, comprising of an Electoral Officer (EO) and some Assistant Electoral Officers (AEOs) were reportedly traveling from some local government areas to Maiduguri for special training ahead of the conversion of voting points into polling units on Sunday.
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who confirmed the development in a statement, Monday, said three staff, Adamu Mohammed (EO, Biu LGA), Abubakar Hamma Joda and Suleiman Umar (AEOs, Damboa LGA) lost their lives while five others sustained injuries.
According to Okoye, the injured staff members are currently receiving treatment in a Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri.
He said the deceased officials, who were indigenes of Adamawa State, would be buried today in Yola.
“The Supervising National Commissioner for Borno, Adamawa and Taraba States, AVM Ahmed Tijjani Mu’azu (rtd), will represent the Commission at their funeral while the injured staff members are receiving treatment in a Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri,” Okoye said.
“It will be recalled that last week, the Commission commenced nationwide train-the-trainers workshop in Abuja involving Heads of Operations Departments drawn from all the States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The training is to be cascaded to State level nationwide ahead of the fieldwork for the physical conversion of the VPs to PUs. The aim is to conclude the exercise ahead of the resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) on June 28, 2021.
“The three staff died in the course of national assignment. While praying for the repose of their souls, the Commission extends its condolence to their families and wishes the injured staff speedy recovery.”
