No life was lost in the fire incident that occurred at the Akure headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday evening, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.
The inferno destroyed no fewer than 5,000 card readers meant for the Oct. 10 governorship election in Ondo State.
The fire which started around 7.30pm razed the large container housing the card readers.
Men of the Ondo State fire service, who arrived the scene shortly after the fire started, were helpless as their fire fighting truck refused to work.
As a result those standing by used buckets to fetch and pour water into the affected 40 feet container housing the card readers.
Prof. Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, said that some of the damaged card readers were brought in from the neighbouring Osun State.
Okoye, who expressed shock at the incident, which he described as a setback, however, said that it would not affect the conduct of the governorship election.
He, however, said that investigation would be carried out to ascertain the cause of the incident.
He said: “The fire occurred in a container, where the card readers for the election and those meant for the training of the supervising and presiding officers were stored.
“It is unfortunate that we lost so many card readers but the incident would not in any way affect the conduct of the election.
“So, we are confident that this election will go on as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and police have deployed more operatives to beef up security within the INEC premises.
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