No critical election material affected in attack on Imo office – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that no critical election material was destroyed in the attack on its headquarters in Imo.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Okoye said the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Imo State, Prof. Sylvia Uchenna Agu, reported that INEC State Headquarters office in Owerri was attacked by unknown gunmen, at about 3a.m on Monday Dec. 12.

“The attack affected the part of the building occupied by the Election and Party Monitoring (EPM) Department and one official utility vehicle (a Toyota Hilux pickup van) was burnt.

“The response of the security and emergency services (the Fire Service) curtailed further damage to the building and other assets of the commission.

“No critical election materials were destroyed. There were also no casualties involving staff of the commission.”

Okoye said the attack was the third on the commission’s facilities in Imo in less than two weeks, following the earlier attacks on its Orlu LGA office on Thursday, Dec. 1 and Oru West LGA office on Sunday Dec. 4.

“Our Imo headqurters is located in the centre of Owerri, the state capital, between a court and the state secretariat.

“This is therefore, yet another systematic attack targetted at the commission’s assets across the country, more so on the day that the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) began nationwide ahead of the 2023 general elections,” Okoye said.