Imo INEC Office Attacked, Not Burnt, Say Police

The Imo State police command has denied that an office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of the state was burnt.

The police said the INEC office was attacked by suspected thieves who tried to break into the office by destroying the burglary proof to the building.

There was panic in the state as some tabloids and social media users had claimed that the Ahiazu Mbaise INEC office was set ablaze on Sunday.

The command’s spokesperson, Bala Elkana, said mischief makers bent on creating panic in the state were behind the reports.

He said, “The report is a fiction of the imagination of the author and a total misrepresentation of the facts. On 23rd May, 2021 at about 2355hours, Police teams deployed to the area cited thieves breaking the burglary proof of the office, in an attempt to enter and steal.

“On sighting the Police, the burglars abandoned their housebreaking implements and took to their heel. Nothing is stolen or removed from the building.”

Bala also confirmed that no part of the building was torched or destroyed by the thieves against reports in some quarters, while assuring protection for all INEC and other national assets in the state.

The reports came against the backdrop of series of attacks on INEC offices in some states in the South-South and South Eastern part of the country.