The office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Enugu South Local Government Area, LGA, Enugu State, has been burned down by hoodlums.
According to sources, the incident happened on Sunday night when arsonists stormed the INEC office in Enugu South LGA’s Amechi Awkunanaw.
The gunmen also killed one of the security guards on the commission’s premises and destroyed a large portion of the building.
However, a source from the village said that they quickly called the men of Fire Service, who arrived quite on time but could not go near the premises to extinguish the fire as a result of the dead body they sited around.
“The building would not have been razed totally because we called the fire service men. But they were afraid of going inside because of the person that was shot dead.
“Everybody was really afraid. They felt the guys were still around. But we knew that the gunmen had left”, a villager said.
Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of INEC, Mr. Victor Okafor said the hoodlums only succeeded in burning the security house of the building, stressing that the commission’s materials were not affected by the fire.
He regretted that people still find pleasure in burning INEC facilities despite the efforts put in place by the commission to make people’s vote count in the forthcoming elections.
Meanwhile, men of the Nigerian Army and Police were said to have repelled the attack.