Anambra gunmen kill teen, burn 1,240 INEC materials

Some yet-to-be-identified attackers attacked the office of the Independent National Election Commission in Ojoto, in the Idemili South Local Government Area of ​​Anambra State.

The crooks also attacked the Nnobi police station and a residential building at the station.

Both Ojoto and Nnobi are in the Idemili South LGA.

PUNCH subway gathered that the gunmen raided both facilities around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday in four unmarked Sienna vehicles.

They were reportedly armed with petrol bombs and other explosives.

Sources said the crooks set fire to INEC’s office before heading to the police station, where they killed the teen and injured another girl.

The crooks were said to have been repelled by security agents before they could carry out further attacks on the police station.

Anambra State Police public relations officer DSP Tochukwu Ikenga confirmed the incident and said security in the area had been strengthened.

Ikenga stated that the command deployed many security personnel across the state to prevent attacks in other places.

He said, “The Anambra State Police Command has today, February 1, 2023, stepped up security efforts in the state following an attack on the INEC office in Idemili South, Ojoto and Nnobi police station.

“The crooks entered at 1:45 am today, February 1, 2023, in four unmarked Siena vehicles armed with IEDs, petrol bombs and other explosives. They raided the INEC office, the police station and a residential building in the station.

“Unfortunately, a 16-year-old boy, a relative of a serving police officer at the station, was killed by the gunmen, while the other, a 15-year-old woman, suffered a gunshot wound. She was taken to a hospital where she is being treated. The situation is being monitored and further details will be communicated, please.”

In response to the attack, Festus Okoye, the national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Commission, INEC, said no fewer than 1,240 non-sensitive materials had been burned by the crooks.

INEC had recorded more than 50 attacks against its facilities in 15 states in the past four years, as this is the third attack in Anambra state.

The commission revealed in a statement from Okoye that her building was damaged and non-sensitive materials recently delivered in preparation for the 2023 general election were destroyed.

However, INEC said the permanent voter cards kept in the fireproof cabinet were not compromised and assured that elections would still take place in the LGA.

The statement read in part: “The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra State, Dr. Queen Agwu, reported that our office in the Idemili South Local Government Area was attacked and set on fire by unknown gunmen. The incident took place in the early hours of today, Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

“The building is quite damaged. All furniture and other items were destroyed, including non-sensitive materials recently delivered in preparation for the 2023 general election. Among the items lost in the inferno were 729 ballot boxes, 243 voting booths, 256 election bags, 11 megaphones, a power generator and large amounts of indelible ink and liquid gum.

“However, the uncollected permanent voter cards kept in the fireproof cabinet were not affected by the inferno. Likewise, no sensitive materials have been delivered to the LGA office.

“The destruction appears to have been coordinated when the Nnobi police station in the LGA was similarly attacked.”