THE Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) said there were fire outbreaks in two of its offices in Orlu local government, Imo and Idemili local government, Anambra states.
In a statement signed by Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, the fire outbreak happened over the weekend but no life was lost.
Okoye said the incident occurred in the office of the commission in Orlu local government area in Imo state while the other happened in Idemili North local government area in Anambra state.
He said both incidents have been reported to the Police and Fire Service for an investigation into the causes.
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He said the commission is still assessing the situations to determine the extent of damages caused by the fire in both states.
Confirming the incident to The ICIR, Imo state police spokesperson, Ikeoku Godson Orlando said the incident took place around 3 – 4 am on Monday.
According to the spokesperson, he said the command is unsure if it was a natural fire outbreak or the office was set ablaze by thugs.
He added that the police commissioner has ordered a thorough investigation into the incident and will issue a statement when investigations are concluded.
In Anambra, the state police command spokesperson, Haruna Mohammed acknowledged that there was a fire incident in the INEC office.
He told The ICIR there was no loss of life, though a lot of properties were damaged.
Mohammed said the preliminary investigations by the police showed that it was as a result of a bush burning but the Command is still working to ascertain the cause of the fire outbreak.
It is noteworthy that there was chaos in Orlu local government a week ago during the announcement of results of the rerun of Orlu/Orsu/Oru East Federal Constituency when the Commissioner of Police in the state, Bolaji Fafowora ordered the Resident Electoral Officer to suspend the pronouncement of results of the poll.
The REC flouted the CP’s order as he announced the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Jerry Alagboso as the winner of the rerun.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94