BY NKECHI NAECHE- ESEZOBOR: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Thursday said it decided to print all security documents for the 2023 general election within the country to support printers and grow the economy.
The commission was responding to the allegation that it awarded contract for the printing of sensitive materials to Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani’s printing firm, Binani Printing Press.
According to the contract documents obtained, Binani Printing Press, owned by the Adamawa State gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Binani, was awarded N434,372,649 to print election results sheets for the 2023 general elections.
The Statement reads”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.
“The Commission decided to print all the security documents for the 2023 General Election in the country to help Nigerian printers and assist in growing the national economy.
“The Commission will continue to carry out due diligence in its procurement activities”.