Fire guts INEC office

With less than two weeks to the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, an overnight fire on Saturday gutted the warehouse of the Independent National Electoral Commission located at its Electoral Institute on Abuja Airport Road.

But INEC said this will not affect the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

It said only the electoral materials used in the 2011 elections were destroyed by the inferno.

The INEC Director Security Directorate, Shettima Ngiladar, and his counterpart, the Fire Commander, Fidelis Iroegbu, addressed journalists at the scene of the incident on Sunday.

Iroegbu and Ngiladar said no single sensitive or non-sensitive materials meant for the 2015 elections was kept at the Electoral Institute that was consumed.

On how the inferno that lasted more than three hours started, Iroegbu said: “It was actually an electrical spark resulting from electricity power surge when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria restored light.

“A thick smoke was noticed from the warehouse but there was no way to gain access into the place.

“I had to contact the federal and FCT fire services and we used some break-in tools to gain access to the warehouse before we could salvage the situation.”

“The materials for the 2015 elections were not among the materials involved in the fire incidence.

“What the fire consumed was the obsolete disused electoral materials used during the 2011 elections, which were waiting for the right time to be disposed.

“They are not even non-sensitive materials for the 2015 elections.

“From the report at our disposal, the fire started at about 11pm and lasted three hours before it was put off by 2am.

“The major problem they had was getting close to the base of the fire incidence because the keys were not in this complex.

“They had to forcefully gain entrance into the place.”