The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday denied awarding a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed.
The commission was dismissing reports that it awarded the contract to a company belonging to the gubernatorial hopeful.
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC, Festus Okoye, in a statement, 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.
“However, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed was not listed as one of the Directors of Binani Printing Press Limited.”
Okoye said the INEC decided to print all the security documents for the 2023 general elections in the country to help Nigerian printers and assist in growing the national economy.
He said the commission would continue to carry out due diligence in its procurement activities.
