About eight hoodlums have attacked the office belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) located at Iyana Mortuary lll area of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
NIGERIACRIME gathered that the building was set ablaze by the yet-to-be-identified hoodlums who accessed the premises by scaling fence in the early hours of Thursday
According to reports, the hoodlums were said to have thrown loaves of bread that had been soaked with petrol into the INEC building from different angles in a bid to set the facility on fire.
The incident happened around 1 am.
The security guard at the facility, one Azeez Hamzat, reportedly alerted the police from Ibara division about the attack on the building.
Detectives from the division were immediately sent to the scene of the fire to put things under control even as men of fire service in the state were contacted to put out the fire.
When contacted, the Ogun INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Niyi Ijalaye confirmed the incident, describing it as shocking.
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He said, “It is correct that our office was set on fire. The police are investigating. I do not know what to say. I’m in shock myself.
“We called the police and other security agencies at night. The fire brigade put the situation under control. The level of damage is still being assessed.
“It is very shocking and untoward. The security agencies are doing their very best. We are meeting again later today to come up with other strategies (toward securing our facilities).”
A source in the INEC hinted that the store, the Registration Area Officer’s office, and the conference room were affected by the inferno.
The source also told our correspondent that non-sensitive materials were also affected by the fire.
“No life was lost and no injury was sustained in the fire,” the source disclosed.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.