Arsonists have for the third time in 3 weeks unleashed unprovoked mayhem in an INEC facility, this time in Ebonyi State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said valuable items including ballot boxes, voting cubicles and power generating sets were destroyed after its Izzi Local Government Area (LGA) office in Ebonyi was attacked and burnt.
Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, said this in a statement in Abuja.
Okoye said that the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) ,Mrs Onyeka Pauline Ugochi reported that the office was set ablaze on Sunday morning by some unidentified attackers.
He said that the incident occurred around 10a.m. on Sunday.
“Although no casualties resulted from the attack, the main building and all the movable and immovable items inside it were destroyed.
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“These include 340 ballot boxes, 130 voting cubicles, 14 electric power generators, large water storage tanks, assorted office furniture and fixtures and yet to be determined quantities of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs),” he said.
Okoye said that the attention of the police and other security agencies has been drawn to the incident and investigation commenced. “Sadly, this is the third attack on our LGA office in less than three weeks following similar attacks on our offices in Ogun and Osun on Nov. 10,” Okoye said.
There appears to be a desperate attempt by criminal elements to disrupt the forthcoming elections by vandalising critical infrastructure of INEC facilities and destroying voting materials across the country. This attack is coming even after promises by security agencies to deploy personnel to secure INEC offices across the country.
