Another INEC Office Burnt In Enugu

The office of the Independent National Electoral Commission located at Ibagwa, Igboeze South Local Government Area of Enugu State was Sunday night burnt by yet-to-be-ascertained persons.

Sunday night’s incident makes it the third time in the month of May that INEC offices were burnt in the state.

The first was at Obollo-Afor in Udenu LGA; then at the INEC headquarters, Independent Layout, Enugu, on 17th of this month. In all, electoral materials and vehicles were damaged.

However, the latest one was curtailed from spreading with the quick intervention of the state fire service.

The chief fire officer of the state, Mr Okwudiri Ohaa, told THE WHISTLER that, “Not much was damaged. We were alerted early enough. We commend members of the neighbourhood of the community. They did a marvelous job in combating it.

“We always advise people to alert us early enough in matters like this. It is unfortunate; we are located strategically in every part of the state. We commend the council chairman, Mr Peter Andy Omeje, for also intervening swiftly.”

An information officer in the council, Tony Ojobo, said, “It occurred at night. It affected the packing store of the electoral body. Some curtains were also burnt. I can’t tell the financial values of the losses yet.”

Charles Aneke, founder of Eastern Union, Nigeria, a pressure group, in a comment, said, “Burning INEC offices in the East will erase data and affect our chances of electing even our own leaders tomorrow.”

Kaduna Senator Shehu Sani also commented that, “The attacks on police formations and INEC facilities in the Southeast must be resisted by the people of the Southeast; to prevent the region from finding itself in the situation of the Northeast. Crippling law enforcement is a prelude to anarchy, terrorism and disorder.”