The National Commissioner and Chair, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye, in a statement on Friday in Abuja that in spite of the incident, polls in the state would proceed as scheduled.
Okoye said that the commission witnessed a fire incident its office, which occurred in the early hours of Friday.
He said that several sensitive and non-sensitive materials for Saturday‘s Governorship and State House of Assembly elections were destroyed, including 198 Smart Card Readers, the printed Register of Voters, 13 generating sets as well as several Voting Cubicles and office equipment were destroyed by the fire.
“Fortunately, the ballot papers and result sheets for the elections were not affected and are intact.
“Acting on time, the Commission has been able to replace and reconfigure all the destroyed Smart Card Readers and reprinted the Register of Voters.
“With the replacement and the salvage of other items, we are pleased to announce that the election will proceed as scheduled.
“All registered voters in the Local Government Area are therefore requested to turn up to cast their votes between 8a.m and 2p.m tomorrow.”
Okoye explained that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and that a report had been made to the law enforcement agencies and the Fire Service.
According to him, INEC is liaising closely with both agencies to investigate and ascertain the cause of the fire and ensure diligent and vigorous prosecution if it was a deliberate action.