● INEC says none of the critical election materials destroyed
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has expressed concerns about incessant attacks on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state.
Wondering the motive behind the series of attacks by bandits at the time the electoral umpire is preparing for upcoming elections, Governor Uzodimma said there is “need to decode the motive behind the action and why INEC is the target.”
Three bandits who were part of the gang that approached the INEC office in Owerri on Monday to set it ablaze were promptly neutralised by the police who also arrested two others alive with bullet wounds.
The security operatives in Imo State are also combing the nooks and crannies of the Owerri for the fleeing members of the gang believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds when the police engaged them at the INEC office on Port Harcourt road in the early hours of Monday, a statement, Monday, signed by Media Adviser and Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Oguwike Nwachuku said.
Monday incident was the third attack on the Commission’s facilities in Imo State in less than two weeks following the earlier attacks on its Orlu LGA office on Thursday 1st December 2022 and Oru West LGA office on Sunday 4th December 2022.
Addressing newsmen at the Police Headquarters where the three neutralized hoodlums and two who were captured alive were paraded, Governor Uzodimma wondered why bandits should think of attacking the INEC office at this time the body is preparing seriously for the upcoming elections if they were not being used.
He said what happened and events of the past confirmed what he has always said that, “what is happening in Imo State is politically contrived, and justifiably so.”
He wondered why “some people think they can win election yet they don’t want elections to hold, how then will they win?”
Governor Uzodimma emphasized: “INEC does not need this type of distraction at this point and stage of our elections, rather they should be supported by all and sundry. But contrary to that what we now see are people creating distractions here and there and attacking innocent people.”
“If now we put one and two together and recall that people have threatened that Imo State will be made ungovernable and there will be no elections in Imo State, that is the attempt to achieve their purpose.”
The Governor however assuaged the fears of Imo people, noting that “since the police are prepared, and the security agencies are ready, there will be elections in Imo State by the Grace of God.”
The Governor also urged Imo people to go out and collect their PVCs as the State and INEC have decentralized the team.
He assured of sufficient security at the Local Government up to the Ward Levels to support our people in the exercise, even as he reassured that it will be a peaceful exercise.
Governor Uzodimma reminded Imo people that “the collection of Voters Card is key to the elections we are looking forward to and if one doesn’t have the Voters Card he/she will not be able to vote.”
“So, the Government working with the security agencies will do their best to ensure that all the environments, the Local Government Headquarters, the Ward and Collection Centres are properly protected and sufficient security presence assured.”
He seized the opportunity to reassure Imo people coming back for the Christmas celebrations that “the State Government with the efforts of the Security agencies in withstanding the bandits will have a very peaceful and hitch-free Christmas.”
Briefing the Governor on the activities of the bandits and how his men were able to counter and neutralise some of them, the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Mohammad Ahmed Barde said that “the bandits attacked the Assumpta roundabout where they burnt a Sienna bus,” and that his men “confronted them and forced them to abandon one of their vehicles and from their they moved to attack the INEC headquarters in Owerri Imo State.”
Barde said the Police were able to neutralize three of them and arrested two alive while others escaped with bullet wounds, assuring that the Police are on trail of them.
He added that the police recovered three AK47 riffles, three Pump action guns and some Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) as well two vehicles from the bandits.
The Police Commissioner passionately appealed to the media to report exactly what happened “because at the social media the story will be different,” regretting that the stories on the social media always tend to promote the activities of the miscreants “and that is why they seem to be above everybody.”
Governor Uzodimma later visited the crime scenes at the Control Post roundabout where the Sienna bus was burnt and the INEC headquarters for on the spot assessment of the attack on the buildings and vehicles.
Meanwhile, the INEC has said that none of the critical election materials was destroyed in the attack on its State Headquarters office in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Monday.
The Commission in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Card Education Committee Chairman, Festus Okoye also confirmed that there were no casualties involving staff of the Commission in the incident which he said occurred at about 3.00 am on Monday.
Okoye, however, said the attack affected the part of the building occupied by the Election and Party Monitoring (EPM) Department and one official utility vehicle (a Toyota Hilux pickup van) was burnt.
He confirmed that the Monday incident was the third attack on the Commission’s facilities in Imo State in less than two weeks following the earlier attacks on our Orlu LGA office on Thursday 1st December 2022 and Oru West LGA office on Sunday 4th December 2022.
Okoye described the incident as yet another systematic attack targeted at the Commission’s assets across the country, more so on the day that the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) commences nationwide ahead of the 2023 General Election.