The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State has been set ablaze again barely six months after first incident.
INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye confirmed the incident saying thats confirmed the incident saying it happened on Sunday night.
He said that the building which was initially burnt down was recently renovated. he added that apart from furniture items, all electoral materials and office equipment were completely burnt.
The INEC official said this was not the first time the commission’s office would be attacked but that there were no casualties and the matter has been reported to the police for further investigations.
Okoye’s statement reads: “The Commission met today, Monday 10th May 2021 and discussed a wide range of issues including a disturbing report from Abia State.
“The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Dr Joseph Iloh reported that INEC’s recently renovated office in Ohafia Local Government Area has been set ablaze.
“The incident occurred late on Sunday night, 9th May, 2021. There are no casualties on the part of our staff on guard duty but the building was virtually destroyed. Apart from furniture items, all electoral materials and office equipment were destroyed.
“The matter has been reported to the police for investigation.
Speaking further, Oke said that, “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, including 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 one too many. This is not the first attack on the Commission’s facilities in recent times. Five months ago, on the 13th December 2020, the INEC LGA Office in Abia South was completely burnt down while that of Arochukwu LGA was vandalised and ransacked in October 2020.
“These facilities are national assets, which must be protected. Accordingly, the Commission is convening an Emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week to discuss the disturbing trend.“