Four days ahead to the general elections in the country, the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, office in Awka, the state
capital was gutted by fire yesterday.
The fire, which
is still on for hours in the two containers housing some of the most sensitive
equipment for the elections in the state had yet to be put out by fire fighting
personnel.
The Resident
Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji told newsmen that the
fire gutted two container loads of configured smart card readers for the
elections.
“I don’t have
the details of how it started, but all I can report is that there was a fire
incident in our premises.
“And the fire
involved our storage facilities that are housing some of the most sensitive
equipment that we are going to use for the elections.
“The content is
mostly the smart card readers. I don’t have the details of the incident; I just
reported what I know.
“We have to do
assessment before we can tell the status, I am just arriving into the premises,
and this is all I know as at now. We have to assess the situation and made
public assurances as soon as we are able to finish the situation we let you
know,’’ Orji said.
Meanwhile, all
the heads of security agencies in the state led by the new Commissioner of
Police, Dandaura Mustapha visited the scene of the incident and the premises
and environs had been condoned off by the security operatives.
Earlier before
the incident, the REC was having state stakeholders meeting at Prof. Dora
Akunyili Development Center, Awka when the distress call came and he hurriedly
concluded the event and zoomed off to the scene of the incident.
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