By Julius Alabi, Akure
Barely a month to the Governorship Election in Ondo State, fire has gutted the office of Independent National Electoral Commission in the state.
The fire, it was learnt, destroyed over 5,000 smart card readers and other Election materials for the October 10 Gubernatorial election.
TheNiche gathered that the fire which started around 8pm on Thursday razed the large container housing the card readers, though no life was lost to the fire.
Men of the Ondo state fire service who arrived at the scene shortly after the fire started were helpless and their fire truck refused to work.
INEC officials including the national commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye and the Ondo state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus Akeju expressed shock over the incident.
They said though the fire was a set back, it would not affect the forthcoming governorship election.
Okoye said investigation into the cause of the fire will commence promptly after the fire has been contained.
