Suspected hoodlums have burnt down an office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ibesikpo Asuntan local government area of Akwa Ibom state.
Some electoral materials were destroyed in the incident which happened on the eve of the governorship and state assembly elections.
A witness said that the police were able to secure some electoral materials.
Akwa Ibom was among the states that recorded high rate of violence in the presidential and national assembly elections.
Mike Igini, resident electoral commissioner of the state, has visited the scene for assessment. He said the action would not affect Saturday’s elections.
“In the wee hours this morning, I got a call that one of the areas offices has been gutted by fire. So we had to call the fire service, and the DPO around that area,” he told Channels Television.
“So they all moved in there, and responded, and there were able to evacuate the entire ballot papers that had been delivered to the local government, intact. But because the storeroom behind the building is very close to the fence, obviously we saw some footprints, because it rained yesterday, it was very clear where they came in through to do the sabotage.
“So, what we had destroyed there is just card readers, the registered voters list and ballot boxes. So that is what happened. But the good news is, because the entire ballot papers are intact, so what we are trying to do is basically mop up our card readers.
Igini said the commission is currently “mopping up” card readers across the state in order to prevent the incident from affecting the elections.
As I speak to you, from the entire polling unit. You know we have already recovered from our reserves, we have already got that,” he said.
“So what we are contending with, which is not a problem really, is the voting point, and within the neighbouring state, even Abuja has called to provide some of the card readers. We have taken care of that.
Then the entire register that has been burnt, we have reproduced the register 30 minutes ago. They are ready. Beyond that, we are good to go. There is just one local government, and just out of the office, out of 31 local government.
“So we are good to go, the configuration of the card reader is currently ongoing, and I am very sure that before 5:00pm, we are done.”
