Fire Guts INEC Office In Ondo State, Over 5,000 Card Readers Destroyed

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that 5,000 card reader machines were destroyed in a fire that burnt down its Akure office on Thursday evening.

The incident comes a month to the governorship election scheduled to take place on October 10, 2020, as the commission was preparing to conduct the poll.

As at the time of writing this, the cause of the fire is unknown but some items in the office were destroyed in the inferno.

WhenPunch correspondents visited the scene, they saw men of the state police command, some INEC officials, and security personnel who prevented human and vehicle movement around the area.

Festus Okoye, the INEC Commissioner in charge of Information and Voters Education, spoke with newsmen at the scene stated that the fire affected the Information and Communication Technology section of the commission, adding that 5,100 card readers were burnt.

Okoye explained that about 1,000 card readers delivered to INEC from Osun State were also destroyed in the fire. He mentioned that although the incident was a setback, it would not affect the governorship election.