14th May, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has summoned all the resident electoral commissioners (RECs) to an emergency meeting on 19 May.
The electoral umpire called the meeting following the burning of its Enugu office on Friday.
In a statement signed by Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee on Friday, INEC lamented that fire incidents involving its facilities across the country have persisted
Okoye described the latest arson as another setback to its activities and preparation for coming electoral activities.
This was the third incident involving INEC local government office in three states in less than two weeks.
First was the office destroyed in Essien Udim LGA of Akwa Ibom State on 2nd of May 2021 followed by the fire at the Ohafia LGA office in Abia State on 9th of May.
The commission decried the incident and said the torched building was extensively damaged with electoral materials and office equipment destroyed.
Okoye said after the Abia State incident, 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.
“The latest destruction of the Commission’s physical infrastructure and electoral facilities in Enugu State calls for an immediate review of the measures necessary to secure INEC’s assets across the States”, Okoye said.
“Consequently, the Commission is convening an emergency meeting with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on Wednesday 19th May 2021 in Abuja ahead of the meeting of ICCES.”