Regular Fire incidents at several local government offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have become sources of concern to the commission.
The fire incidents occurred at the INEC office in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government office in Abia State and at the Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State, according to Premium Times.
“Some of the items destroyed in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government include 2979 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and other materials.
“At the Qua’an Pan office, items destroyed include 5987 uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs), 380 Voting Cubicles, 755 ballot boxes, 14 generators, election forms and official stamps,” Festus Okoye, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, wrote in a statement late on Sunday.
Mr Okoye said the commission has raised the matter with the police chief, Mohammed Adamu, “of the emerging trend of the burning of the Local Government Offices of the Commission close to the conduct of the elections and at a period when the Commission is engaged in the massive movement of election-related materials nationwide.”
“The Commission wishes to assure all Nigerians that it will not succumb to the antics of arsonists whose motive might be to create fear in the minds of voters and sabotage the conduct of the 2019 general elections,” he said.