Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State Friday visited the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gutted by fire and described the incident as unfortunate and shocking.
The fire incident, which gutted the office at about 8:30 pm burnt over 5,114 card readers meant for the October 10 governorship election in the state.
Akeredolu who paid an unscheduled visit to the Alagbaka office of the commission in Akure said it was not only an unfortunate incident but equally shocking especially when the governorship election in the state is at the corner.
He charged the commission to unravel the cause of the fire incident.
Akeredolu, however, commended the determination of the commission to still conduct the forthcoming governorship despite the ugly incident and assured that the state government would be ready to render assistance to the commission in any area where it would not be termed as being partisan.
“As you promised us that by the grace of God the election will still be held on that day, that is soothingly, but it will come at a cost to INEC for it to replace all those card readers in due time.
“We sympathise with you and we want INEC to know that the people of this state are really concerned and are with you at this point in time in this calamitous situation.
“We are with you and whatever you think we can do that will not be termed as being partisan because whatever we do now could be misinterpreted since we are in an election period, but no doubt we have to come as government and not as contestants
“I can see the determination from how you spoke that the election will still hold on the 10th of October, we are so sorry about this”
Akeredolu also noted that the fire must have been very serious following offensive smokes emanating from the scene after 16 hours of the incident.
