•Report by Halimah Olamide
The National Commissioner for Information and Voters Education of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has confirmed the attack on the commission’s Office in Imo state.
This was contained in a statement signed by him on Monday, saying that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Sylva Agu reported the attack by unknown gunmen by 3am today.
“The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Imo State, Professor Sylvia Uchenna Agu, has reported that our State Headquarters office in Owerri was attacked by unknown gunmen.
“The incident occurred at about 3.00am today Monday 12th December 2022.”
He confirmed that the attack burnt an official vehicle and affected part of a building occupied by the Election and Party Monitoring (EPM) Department but the fire service intervened before further damages could be made.
“The attack affected the part of the building occupied by the Election and Party Monitoring (EPM) Department and one official utility vehicle (a Toyota Hilux pickup van) was burnt.
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“The response of the security and emergency services (the Fire Service) curtailed further damage to the building and other assets of the Commission.
However, he said that no election materials were destroyed and no casualties involving staff of the Commission were recorded.
“No critical election materials were destroyed. There were also no casualties involving staff of the Commission.”
This is third attack on the Commission’s facilities in Imo State in less than two weeks following the earlier attacks at the Orlu LGA office on Thursday 1st December 2022 and Oru West LGA office on Sunday 4th December 2022.
He also noted, “This is therefore yet another systematic attack targetted at the Commission’s assets across the country, more so on the day that the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) commences nationwide ahead of the 2023 General Election.”