INEC Warehouse In Abuja Gutted By Fire

The central warehouse of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), located at its electoral institute on the airport road was gutted by fire on Saturday night, and full investigation into its cause commenced immediately.
However, the commission had ruled out any possible act of sabotage, as it suspected power surge.
Sources disclosed that the fire incident, which started at 11.00 p.m. on Saturday, was finally put out at 2.00 a.m. on Sunday.
The director of security of the commission, Shettima Ngilladar, who conducted newsmen round the affected area, on Sunday, stated that the fire was due to power surge, which caused the electrical panel to go up in flames.
He pointed out that no electoral materials for the 2015 elections was in the warehouse, as the commission had already deployed all the election materials in states.
He said the materials affected by the fire were old stock used in 2011, noting that security agencies were already investigating the matter.
According to him, “these are non-sensitive materials that have been banned in the warehouse. You will see it yourself, it is not hidden. This banned non-sensitive materials have nothing to do with the elections.
“They are old materials in store that have not been evacuated. These are old stock of non-sensitive materials, like bags, envelopes and election forms used in 2011. They won’t be used for 2015 elections. Everything here is non-sensitive. Police and security investigation is ongoing,” he stated.
When asked about the financial loss arising from the fire outbreak, he said: “I cannot quantify now, because they are envelopes and bags,, including used forms for elections. So it is not something I can say how much.”
While ruling out political sabotage, he said “whether it is too long or too early, there is no political motive about it. It is an electric action.”
Corroborating, the deputy director of electoral logistics at INEC, Ken Ukeagu, said, “all sensitive materials required for 2015 elections have been moved to the states.
“Whatever we have here are old stock materials. You know the normal process of disposing materials take a little while.
“These materials here are not useful for 2015 elections. All the useful sensitive materials have been moved to the states. Even if these were materials that would have been used, there is no way it would affect the elections.”
INEC national commissioner in charge of electoral logistics, Colonel Mohammed Hammanga, who was at the institute to inspect the damage, expressed happiness that materials affected were old stock.
According to him, “we thank God it has not gone beyond this. We are happy that it has not destroyed the materials that will be used in the elections.”