Fire guts INEC office in Abia

An inferno gutted the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Obingwa local government area of Abia state on Sunday.

The fire destroyed documents, furniture and other valuables in the office leaving only the wall of the building and remains of materials made of steel.

Chinyere Akwarandu, an official of the local government council, who witnessed the incident, said a corps member alerted him of the fire at 11 am in his house.

Akwarandu said the NYSC member, serving with the INEC, reported that their building was on fire, following which he raced to the scene.

He said that on arrival efforts were made to put out the fire, but the force of the inferno later prompted them to attempt to prevent it from extending to other buildings in the council secretariat.

“We tried what we could to stop it but it was too fierce for us. Earlier, we had called the fire service but they told us they had no diesel to drive their truck,” he said.

Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of the state, was among the early visitors to the council secretariat to assess the extent of damage.