The headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja, was Friday morning gutted by fire.
The fire, said to have been caused by power surge, razed the office of INEC’s director of voter registry, Mr. Emmanuel Akem.
A source told Blueprint that, “the fire which started at about 10.20am was quickly put out by a combined team of fire fighters from the Federal Fire Service and those from FCT with support from the National Emergency Agency…”
“The fire incident affected the office of the Director Election and Party Monitoring only. It’s detached from the main building. The Police, DSS and Fire Service are all there. Fire put out. Nothing sensitive destroyed. The fire was caused by power surge.
“It’s limited to one office, detached from the main building close to the media centre. The media centre was not affected at all,” the source said further.
The Commission’s source also said, “Party primaries and conventions reports are intact. The campaign finance data base is also not affected. Everything is limited to the director’s office.”
In a reaction, the Commission stated that the incident would not affect the administrative or technical operations in any way.
The Commission stated this in a statement issued by its national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee, Festus Okoye.
According to him, the fire did not cause any substantial damage to the building.
Okoye said at 11.30a.m. on Friday a fire outbreak occurred at a section of the building housing the Election and Party Monitoring Department and the Media Centre.
The building is an annex, detached from the main building of the INEC’s headquarters.
The statement read in part, “Fire fighters attached to the Commission swiftly responded to contain the inferno and they were later joined by their colleagues from the Federal Fire Service headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The fire was extinguished within a short period of time and did not cause any substantial damage to the building.
“Apart from some office furniture and equipment, nothing sensitive was destroyed. Reports of party primaries and conventions are intact.
“The campaign finance database is also not affected. The incident will, therefore, not affect the administrative or technical operations of the Commission in any way.”
Okoye, however, said investigation into the cause(s) of the fire incident had begun.
