A section of the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Ede South Local Government Area was razed down by fire on Thursday.

According to an eyewitness, who preferred not to be named in the press, the early response of firemen from Osun State Fire Service to the incident, restricted the fire to only the conference room of the secretariat.

He however said the room was completely razed down with furniture and some other items destroyed in the fire.

It was further learnt that items like a knife, slices of bread, a keg containing petrol and a fez cap were recovered from the scene of the fire, raising suspicion of arson.

The Public Relations Officer of Osun State Fire Service, Ibrahim Adekunle, could not be reached for comment as calls did not go through to his line and he had not responded to a text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.

The Public Relations Officer of Osun INEC, Seun Osimosu, however, confirmed the incident, saying “It is true. REC is on his way to inspect the scene. We will respond appropriately soonest.”

 

Hoodlums Set INEC Office Ablaze In Ogun

Earlier on Thursday, suspected hoodlums set ablaze one of the offices of INEC in Ogun state.

The registration area, the store and the conference room of the building were affected by the inferno.

Hoodlums, numbering about eight, had scaled the perimeter fence of the building, jumped into the premises and set the office building on fire from the back.

It was learnt that the security guard at the facility made a distress call to the police in the early hour of the day saying the facility was on fire.

The police from the Ibara Division were said to have mobilised detectives to the scene.

Fire fighters have also arrived the scene to put out the fire.

In a statement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were destroyed by the hoodlums.

See INEC’s full statement on the incident:

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

PRESS RELEASE

ATTACKS ON INEC OFFICES IN ABEOKUTA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE AND EDE SOUTH
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OSUN STATE

This morning, the Commission received two disturbing reports of attacks on our Local Government offices in Ogun and Osun States.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ogun State, Dr. Niyi Ijalaiye, reported that our office in Abeokuta South Local Government Area was attacked and set ablaze.

The incident occurred around 1.15am when some unidentified persons overpowered the security personnel on duty and set the entire building ablaze.

The main building and all the Commission’s movable assets in the office were destroyed. They include 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, 8 electric power generators and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

Similarly, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, reported that our office in Ede South Local Government Area was attacked and set ablaze.

The incident occurred in the early hours of this morning when some unidentified persons attacked the building and set a portion of it ablaze.

Fortunately, the damage to our Ede South Local Government was limited to a section of the building and only some furniture items were destroyed.

The attention of the Nigeria Police Force and other security and safety agencies has been drawn to the incidents and they have commenced investigation.

With just 106 days to the 2023 General Election when the Commission has commenced the movement of materials to our offices nationwide, these simultaneous attacks are very worrisome indeed.

Similarly, the rising incidents of attacks on supporters of various political parties since the commencement of campaign barely two months ago and the use of hate and incendiary language by some politicians are extremely disturbing.

Accordingly, the Commission has convened an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) tomorrow Friday 11th November 2023 to discuss the disturbing trend.

Festus Okoye Esq.
National Commissioner & Chairman
Information and Voter Education Committee
Thursday 10th November 2022