Police order investigation into attack on INEC office in Enugu.

The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Abubakar Lawal, has ordered investigation into the attack at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east.

Suspected arsonists, on Sunday, razed the commission’s office at Ogurute, Enugu Ezike, a community in the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, destroying 748 ballot boxes and 240 voting cubicles, among others.

The police spokesperson in the state, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

He said police operatives put out the fire with assistance from the personnel of Enugu State Fire Service from Nsukka Office.

“Meanwhile, the area has been cordoned-off for preservation and further investigative actions,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Lawal, vowed to unravel the cause of the incident and take ‘necessary action’, Mr Ndukwe said.

Mr Lawal appealed to residents of the area to support the police with “credible information” in the ongoing investigation to track down the suspects.

Increased attacks

Like other states in Nigeria’s South-east, Enugu State has witnessed an increase in deadly attacks lately.

The attacks have become prevalent in Igbo-Eze North and Igbo-Eze South Council Areas of the state in recent times.

The tricycle and motorcycle rider associations in the two council areas have directed their members not to operate from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

They also directed all Keke and Okada operators to withdraw their services in Aguibeje and Iyionu communities in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, with effect from June 7, 2022, till further notice and requested security agencies in the state to enforce the associations’ resolutions.

Two police officers were killed last month in Mkpamte Community, Igbo-Eze North.

Also last month, arsonists, believed to be enforcing the illegal sit-at-home order in the South-east razed a cement truck in Nsukka Local Government Area of the state, near the two council areas where the attacks have been common.

Again, Mid-June, a police officer was killed when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Ibagwa-Ani, a community in Nsukka Council Area of the state.

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi recently banned the operations of motorcycles and tricycles in some local government areas in the state to check the frequent attacks in the area.

The government later lifted the ban following public outcry, and assurances from leaders of the transport operators to assist the government in bringing an end to the attacks.

Mr Ugwuanyi equally declared 12-hour curfew in two council areas to check the rising insecurity, but the attacks have persisted in the areas.

The attacks, mostly targeted at security officials and government facilities, have been attributed to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is agitating for the creation of a sovereign state for the Igbo-speaking people in the South-east. The group has denied the result.

The IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is detained in Abuja where he is standing trial for terrorism.