The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facility at Iyana mortuary, Abeokuta South, the Ogun State capital, has been burnt down by yet-to-be-identified hoodlums.
Reports obtained by NPO on Thursday morning said the hoodlums, numbering about eight, forcefully invaded the commission’s office at midnight and set the building on fire from the back.
It was gathered that, the hoodlums scaled through the fence, soaked loaves of bread with petrol and threw the same into the building at different angles to light up the INEC office.
A source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity told NPO Correspondent that the security guard on duty, Azeez Hamzat, made a distress call to the police around 1 a.m., that the facility was on fire.
The source said,having contacted by the security guard,the police from the Ibara division responded swiftly to the incident by mobilizing detectives to the scene, but damages had been done before their arrival.
The state fire service officials reportedly arrived at the scene soon to put out the fire.
It was gathered that,store, the Registration Area Officer’s office and the conference room were affected by the inferno.
The source added that non-sensitive materials were affected by the fire.
“No casualty was recorded”
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Confirming the incident to newsmen,the Ogun REC INEC Resident,Niyi Ijalaye described the incident as shocking and unfortunate.
“It is correct that our office was set on fire. The police are investigating. I do not know what to say. I’m in shock myself. We called the police and other security agencies at night. The fire brigade put the situation under control. The level of damage is still being assessed,he said
“It is very shocking and untoward. The security agencies are doing their very best. We are meeting again later today to come up with other strategies (toward securing our facilities).”