Fire Guts INEC Data Processing Unit In Kano

The data processing centre of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Kano State office, was gutted by fire on Tuesday.

The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu, who reported the incident to the commission’s headquarters, said fire started at about 10.15am and engulfed the unit before operatives of the Federal Fire Service contained it.

INEC, however, said that the state’s voter register and other sensitive documents are safe as they had been backed up offsite.

“The Staff made spirited efforts to bring the fire under control using fire extinguishers, but they were overwhelmed until the arrival of officers of the Federal Fire Service who subsequently quenched the fire,” INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The physical items burnt include Industrial Printers used for the printing hard copies of the voter register, Laser Jet Printers, Dell and Blade repositories containing soft copies of the voters’ register for the State, Desk Top Computers, Laptops for training, inverters and other accessories and fittings.

“Fortunately, all the data in the Voter Register for the State, as well as all other sensitive documents of the State Office are backed up offsite and therefore safe. They will be recovered swiftly. We assure members of the public that this incident will not in any way affect the operations of the Commission.

“Investigation into the cause of the fire incident has commenced and measures will be put in place to avert future occurrence. The Commission appreciates the concerns of the stakeholders about the incident,” said Okoye.