The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, office in Imo State has allegedly been set on fire by hoodlums who additionally kidnapped some construction workers.
Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner made this known in a statement released on Friday, December 2.
The statement read: “The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Imo State, Professor Sylvia Uchenna Agu, had reported that our office in Orlu Local Government Area was attacked. The incident occurred yesterday Thursday 1st December 2022.”
It was also found that the building, which was undergoing extensive renovation after an earlier vandalization had been vandalized once again and partially set o fire. Additionally, 3 out of 7 construction workers in that building had been abducted but have now been released.
Attacks on INEC offices have become commonplace across Nigeria, as the country is gearing up for next year’s presidential elections.
The INEC national commissioner had, however, stated that the damage would have been much worse if the police had not been quick in mobilizing their men to the scene. But in an official statement in reaction to the fire attack, he had said that over 65,000 uncollected PVCs had been destroyed in the fire, together with 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, 8 electric power generators, and almost 66 thousand uncollected PVCs.
