The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday distanced itself from a report claiming that the printing of sensitive election materials was awarded to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed.
INEC which affirmed that it awarded the contract to Binani Printing Press Limited, noted Ahmed was not listed as one of the directors of the company.
The commission added that the printed contract was awarded to the printing press to help Nigerian printers and assist in growing the national economy.
The National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee (INEC), Festus Okoye in a statement said INEC will continue to carry out due diligence in its procurement activities.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a news report that the commission awarded a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed. It was alleged in the report that she owns Binani Printing Press Limited.
“Procurements in the commission go through open competitive bidding and Binani Printing Press Limited was one of the security printing companies that applied to print security documents for the commission.
“After inspecting the company’s facility and carrying out due diligence at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the commission was satisfied that they are qualified printers with the requisite technical capacity, security consciousness and expertise in printing security documents.