An office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at Iyana Mortuary lll in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has been set ablaze by some suspected hoodlums in the early hours of Thursday.
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The hoodlums numbering about eight (8) scaled the perimeter fence into the premises and set the building on fire from the back, according to Punch.
It was gathered that the hoodlums after invading the premises soaked loaves of bread with petrol and threw same into the building at different angles to light up the INEC office.
It was further gathered that a security guard at the facility identified as Azeez Hamzat, had made a distress call to the police around 1am alerting them on the fire incident.
The police from Ibara division reportedly mobilised detectives to the scene and later contacted men of fire service in the state, who raced to the scene to put out the fire.
When contacted, the Ogun INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Niyi Ijalaye confirmed the incident, describing it as shocking.
He said “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.
“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.”
A source in the INEC hinted that the store, the Registration Area Officer’s office, non-sensitive materials and the conference room were affected by the inferno, the medium quoting the source.
“No life was lost and no injury was sustained in the fire,” the source disclosed.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.
