Hoodlums Set Two INEC Offices Ablaze In Ebonyi
Hoodlums have set two offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ebonyi State ablaze.
Naija News reports that the INEC offices are located in Ebonyi and Ezza North Local Government Areas of the state.
However, no casualties were recorded but there were extensive damages to the building and facilities.
Writing his its Twitter handle on Wednesday, INEC said: “Last night, Tuesday 18th May 2021, two INEC offices in Ebonyi and Ezza North Local Government Areas of Ebonyi State were burnt down by unidentified persons.
“No casualties but extensive damages to the building and facilities.”
The Commission is yet to issue a full statement on the incident.
The latest attack brings the number of offices of the Commission that have been torched to 23.
This is coming weeks after the commission’s offices in Akwa Ibom, Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo were also razed by unknown hoodlums.
Speaking on Channels TV on Tuesday, Festus Okoye, INEC’s spokesperson, had said the commission has lost sensitive and non-sensitive materials, including generators and card readers, as a result of the incidents.
“In relation to some of these attacks and their implications, you know at the local government level, the electoral officers serve more or less as managing directors of our elections,” he had said.
“We do not conduct elections at our INEC headquarters. It is at the base level that these elections are conducted. You also know that we just finished verification relating to the expansion of voters’ access to the polling units. It was at the various local government offices that these were coordinated. They coordinated the geo-referencing of the old and new polling units.”
This online newspaper reports that INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, met with RECs from across Nigeria today, Wednesday, over the constant attacks.