Fire Destroys Ballot Boxes, Others In Sokoto INEC Office

Fire has gutted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Gwadabawa local government area of Sokoto State, destroying furniture and fixtures as well as movable electoral facilities.

The items destroyed include,

558 ballot boxes, 186 voting enclosures (cubicles), 186 election bags and various Registration Area Centre (RAC) materials such as 12 large water tanks (1,000 litres), 400 sleeping mats and 300 plastic buckets.

INEC’s national commissioner & chairman of information and voter education committee, Sam Olumekun, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, said no injury or fatality was recorded from the incident which took place on Tuesday.

He said preliminary report from the INEC state office in Sokoto indicated that there was a sudden surge from public power supply before the incident but the actual cause of the fire outbreak was being investigated by security and safety agencies which have deployed their personnel to the facility.