The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has responded to the attack on its Anambra State facility.
WITHIN NIGERIA previously reported that the INEC office in Ojoto, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra, was raided on Wednesday morning by hoodlums armed with IEDs.
According to reports, the assailants killed a teenager who also attacked a police station in Nnobi, in the same local government area.
In a statement, the state police command revealed that the boy murdered is a relative of an officer who lives in the building.
INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, confirmed the incident in a statement, revealing that over 729 ballot boxes and 256 election bags were destroyed.
Okoye also stated that the fire had no effect on uncollected Permanent Voter’s Cards kept in a fireproof cabinet.
The statement partly reads:
Amongst the items lost to the inferno are 729 ballot boxes, 243 voting cubicles, 256 election bags, 11 megaphones, 1 electric power generator and large quantities of indelible ink and liquid guns.
However, uncollected Permanent Voter’s Card’s (PVCs ) kept in the fireproof cabinet were not affected by the inferno. Similarly, no sensitive materials have been delivered to the LGA Offices.
The electoral body assured the people of the Idemili South that contingency arrangement will be made to replace the materials that were destroyed.