FIRE CONSUMES INEC OFFICE IN OBOLLO AFOR, ENUGU STATE

Reporter : CHRISTIAN NWANGENE

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office at Obollo-Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu was on Thursday May 13, 2021 razed by fire.

Confirming the incident to Radio Nigeria, the Chief Fire Officer, Enugu State Fire Service, Mr. Okwudiri Ohaa, said the fire, which broke out at about 10pm Thursday night took the interventions of Orba fire station of the Agency to bring the situation under control.

According to Mr. Ohaa, he received distress calls from public spirited citizens, the Chairman of the local Council, and officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps about the fire incident and quickly mobilised his men to the scene and brought the inferno under control.

Mr. Ohaa said he could not estimate the cost of damage, but maintained that they were still investigating the incident to ascertain the actual cause of the fire

The Chief Fire Officer advised residents to always be on their gaurd and procure
fire extinguishers, install fire alarms to combat fire just as he advised big firms to train their personnel on how to fight fire.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Ndatsu Aliyu, has ordered the cordoning off of the scene and launched investigation to further ascertain the actual cause of the fire outbreak and damages incurred.

A statement by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Daniel Ndukwe, explains that preliminary investigation suggests that the fire, which was eventually put out before it could spread to other offices around the building, through the combined efforts of the State Fire Service, the Police and law-abiding citizens, may have been caused by power surge arising from sudden power supply to the building.

In the meantime, INEC Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, expressed worry that the spate of fire incidents involving the facilities of the Commission in some States of the federation had persisted.

He said that the Commission resolved to convene an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week to discuss this disturbing trend.

He also assured that the Commission was determined to continue to discharge its responsibilities, including the conclusion of the expansion of voters’ access to Polling Units, resumption of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), capacity-building activities, the review of the draft Strategic Plan 2022-2026, engagement with stakeholders as well as all scheduled and pending elections.