Fire at the weekend gutted the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at Umu- Ikaa in Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State. According to residents of the area, the fire started in the middle of the night yesterday, but was noticed very early in the morning. The inferno, which occurred barely two weeks to the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide, reportedly burnt thousands of uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) belonging to eligible voters in the state. One of the residents, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that the time the fire started, which was midnight, fear did not allow those living in the area to go there to salvage the situation.
The source claimed that the concentration of the fire in the rooms, which were used in storing PVCs, proved that it was sabotage. Another resident also said that the fire started from one of the rooms where PVCs were stored. The source alleged that from what was seen on the ground, the PVCs that were burnt might not be less than 10,000, but said police didn’t allow the residents to move close to or touch the half burnt PVCs.
The INEC Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Bamidele Oyetunji, who confirmed the incident, said it occurred on Saturday/ Sunday. Oyetunji, however, said investigation was left in the hands of the police who were in the best position to find out the unknown persons that carried out such an act. When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the fire incident, but said it was not the entire INEC building that was burnt. Ogbonna said one of the rooms in the building was set ablaze through the toilet by unknown persons. He also confirmed that the room in question was being used in storing PVCs, but couldn’t state the number of burnt PVCs. A similar incident occurred in 2015 at Mgboko in Obingwa Local Government Area of the state in the heat of the governorship election.
