Again fire guts INEC office, Alternative Dispute office affected

Since Prof. Attahiru Jega's assumed office as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a fire has gutted some offices of the commission five times.

In the fire incident at the commission yesterday, the former Department of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) of the commission was also burnt.

The fire incident affected the INEC security office at the gate, Jega visitors' room, Voters' Registration office, INEC Electoral Institute and the former department of ADR of the commission.

The ADR office is located at the INEC headquarters annex built by the administration of Dr. Abel Guobadia and inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.
The building also harbours other departments like Legal, Political Parties Monitoring and Liaison, among others.

At the INEC headquarters, some journalists were prevented from entering the building to assess the extent of the damage caused by the fire incident, while some photojournalists were prevented by security men from taking photographs of the building.

When asked why journalists were prevented from accessing the building, Idowu, explained that the commission had decided to lock up the office.

Idowu, in a statement tagged: ‘Minor Fire Incident at INEC Headquarters’, said: 'There was a minor fire incident at about mid-day on April 22 at the headquarters of the INEC in Abuja.
'The fire occurred in the office of former Director in charge of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), located in the ICT building and was restricted to that office when it was put out.

'Men of the Fire Service attached to the commission swiftly responded to put out the fire. There was no damage whatsoever to any vital facility of the commission. Formal investigation of the cause of the fire has commenced. Initial assessment, however, suggests that it might have resulted from an electrical fault.'

The last fire incident that engulfed the Voters Registration Office was on January 7 this year.