Fire Incident At Our Headquarters Will Not Affect Operations – INEC Declares

BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that the fire incident which gutted parts of its Headquarters in Abuja on Friday, will not affect its administrative or technical operations.

The Commission said the fire did not affect any of its critical documents except computers and photocopying.

The inferno which started at about 11:00am was initially believed to have gutted a substantial part of the building.

Areas mostly affected by the ravaging fire include the Election and Party Monitoring Department (EPM), which was completely razed.

However, the National Commissioner and Chairman Voters’ Education and Information of INEC, Mr Festus Okoye, said that no critical document was lost to the inferno.

Okoye, in a statement made available to Forefront News specifically said that only some documents relating to political parties were burnt as the important ones were stored in fireproof cabinets

The fire outbreak which cause is yet to be determined occurred in a section of the building housing the Election and Party Monitoring Department and the Media Centre. It is an annex that is detached from the main building of the Commission.

Okoye said that 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).

He said that the fire was extinguished within a short period of time and did not cause any substantial damage to the building. 

According to him; “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 said that investigation into the cause(s) of the fire incident has commenced.