…As hoodlums invade Ebonyi, Benue INEC offices
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Mike Igini, has assured that the governorship and State House of Assembly elections will go on as planned in Akw Ibom State despite the razing of a section of the INEC office.
Igini gave the assurance barely 24 hours to the conduct of the elections.
Suspected hoodlums had set fire on the Independent National Electoral Commission office [INEC] office in Ibesikpo/Asutan Council of Akwa Ibom State.
But according to Igini, the incident would not deterred the Commission from carrying out its duties today, as most of the sensitive materials for the conduct of the elections were still intact.
The REC, during on the spot assessment of the scene, acknowledged the loss of some card readers, generating sets, computers and other office equipment in the incident, but insisted: “There is no going back on the elections. Elections will hold as scheduled, no matter the plot.”
Narrating how the incident occurred, the INEC Director of Public Affairs in the State, Don Etukudoh, said the fire started about 3am on Friday, when an explosive device was thrown into the building, ripping the roof open and substantially damaging the walls.
He added: “We have been able to order several cards readers from the neighbouring states and we are presently configuring them in readiness for the elections.”
The Electoral Officer (EO) for Ibesikpo Asutan, Victor Inyang, said that the polls would go on as planned, as no ballot papers were destroyed by the fire, noting: “They thought the election materials were kept in the store.”
The incident, he added, would not deter the conduct of the polls
in all the 177 polling units in Ibesikpo Asutan today, as other sensitive
and non-sensitive materials, except card readers, were not affected by the
inferno, which was timely put out by men of the state
fire service.
In a related development, suspected political thugs on Saturday morning invaded and set fire to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The fire, it was gathered, destroyed sensitive and non-sensitive materials to be used for today’s governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
The hoodlums also burnt down Community Secondary School Okposi Umuoghara in the area.
Police spokesman in the State, Loveth Odah, and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the State, Prof Godswill Obioma confirmed the attack.
“I got a call from the area that the RAC was under attack just few minutes ago. I am rushing back to command to ramp up response to the situation,” Odah said.
Also, hoodlums reportedly burnt electoral materials for Mbalom ward in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue, in the early hours of Saturday.
Unconfirmed report says the hoodlums fired shots in the air before setting RCM Primary School Aya and setting the materials ablaze.
The Electoral Officer for the local government area, Mrs Ngunan Yongo, who confirmed the incident, saying the materials had not been distributed to polling units in the ward when the attack occurred.