Police begin investigation into Ohafia INEC fire, as INEC Convenes Emergency Meeting Of ICCES
Oru Leonard
The Abia State Police Command has said it has commenced full investigation into Sunday’s fire at the Ohafia office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Godfrey Ogbonna, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Monday that available information showed that the attack was carried out by miscreants.
SP Ogbonna said the assailants attacked the facility at about 10pm on Sunday.
“The people in the neighbourhood said the attack was carried out by unknown miscreants”.
“There was no casualty because security men guarding the office ran into the 14 Army Brigade barracks for safety, when the attackers arrived at the place,” he said.
The PPRO said the miscreants were however repelled through the combined efforts of the police and army.
It was learnt that the attackers razed down the office building together with the electronic gadgets, official documents and office furniture.
In a statement released after the incident by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, on Monday in Abuja, noted that the burnt facility was recently renovated.
Mr. Okoye stated that the commission would convene an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security soon to discuss the attacks on its offices in some parts of the country.
According to the statement, furniture items, as well as all electoral materials and office equipment were destroyed.
It will be recalled that only last week, the Commission reported an attack on its office in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and expressed anxiety about the impact of such attacks on electoral activities, especially the ongoing expansion of voter access to Polling Units, resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), pending bye-elections, end-of-tenure elections and ultimately the 2023 General Election.
The latest incident in Abia State is said not to be the first attack on the Commission’s facilities in the State in recent times as the statement shows that five months ago exactly on 13th December 2020, the INEC LGA office in Aba South was completely burnt down while that of Arochukwu LGA was vandalised and ransacked in October 2020.
Credit:National Accord Newspaper
