Fire razed a section of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s headquarters in Abuja, Monday, causing pandemonium around the Maitama area of the Federal Capital Territory, as staff of the commission ran to different directions for safety. The incident came barely 18 months after a similar one occurred in the office of the commission’s chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, causing destruction on the visitors’ room as well as some computer sections.
Vanguard gathered that the fire which started in the Voter Registry Department of the Commission may have been caused by electrical fault. But unlike the previous one, the latest fire did not cause much damage as the men of the Federal Fire Service and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, were on hand to contend the situation. The fire which lasted for about 30 minutes was said to have started at about 9:00 am in the morning and ended around 9:30am.
Speaking to Journalists at the scene of the incident, the Director of Information Communication Technology, ICT, of the commission, Engineer Chidi Nwafor, no vital document of the commission was affected.
Nwafor said, “There was a fire incident this morning. Between 9:12am to 9:30am we started perceiving odour like a burnt odour, so what we did was to look for the place. It was in the department they call voter registry.
Full Article: allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Fire Guts INEC Headquarters.
