INEC has reacted to the fire outbreak that destroyed 5,141 card readers in Akure, Ondo state capital on Thursday night.
The electoral commission on Thursday, September 10, said that nothing will stop it from conducting the Ondo governorship poll billed for October 10.
INEC’s national commissioner, Festus Okoye said that the agency will use smart card readers from other states for the conduct of the election.
Giving his first speech after the inferno, INEC national commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye, who witnessed the fire, outbreak, said that the electoral body will investigate the cause of the inferno.
Mr Okoye pointed out that the development will not deter the commission from conducting the governorship election in the state.
He disclosed that card readers from other states which are not conducting polls any time soon will be used for the Ondo gubernatorial election.
According to the INEC commissioner “This is just one state election. What we are going to do is to mop up smart card readers from other states and use them for the conduct of the election while investigating what happened.
“The cost of 5,141 smart card readers is so much, but we are not going to dwell on that now. What we are going to dwell on is to mop up smart card readers from other states that are not conducting elections and use them to conduct Ondo Governorship election.