Hoodlums Raze Another INEC Office
Hoodlums on Sunday night razed
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ohafia Local
Government Area of Abia State, the Commission has announced.
According to a statement by
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee
Festus Okoye, the burnt office was recently renovated.
The statement added further that
this was not the first time the Commission’s office was attacked in the state
lately.
“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
statement read.
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 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 one too many. This is not the first attack on the Commission’s
facilities in the State in recent times. Five months ago 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.
“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 this disturbing trend.
“Meanwhile, the Commission wishes
to reassure Nigerians that all activities in relation to the ongoing expansion
of voter access to Polling Units and preparations for the resumption of CVR as
well as all scheduled elections will proceed as planned.”
