3 months after Anambra poll: INEC expresses disappointment with vehicles provided by NURTW, NARTO

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Monday that it is grossly disappointed with the vehicles provided by the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to transport sensitive materials during the November 2025 Anambra State governorship election.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) expressed the disappointment at a meeting with transport unions, in preparation for this week’s Saturday’s Area Council elections in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Amupitan said the commission noticed some challenges in relation to transport logistics provided by the unions during elections.
According to him, the vehicles provided by the transport unions during the Anambra governorship election “was almost a disaster…because we were almost disappointed with vehicles that were brought by the unions to transport sensitive materials from Enugu to Awka.”
Prof. Amupitan said INEC was also not happy even with the logistics at Awka and at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adding that some of the vehicles used were out of order.
He stated that even when he met with the leadership of the two unions, and after giving him their words, “at the end of the election, what I got was not in line with the MoU (memorandum of understanding)that was signed.”
This, he said, made the commission to promise “to reimburse in some cases the auctioneer, which was having to rely on some vehicles that were brought from other states to be able to bring them.”
Amupitan revealed that INEC is considering hiring about 1,132 vehicles from the two unions.
According to him, “An election for us is successful if we are able to mobilise materials, both sensitive and non-sensitive materials, to the polling units, because the polling units are the pyramids. They are the foundation of votes”.