Attacks on INEC Facilities:  Citizens Demand Scraping of NSCDC 

 FROM OUR NEWS DESK (UMUAHIA)

Nigerians have called for the scraping of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC as well, and the immediate sack of the Commandant General of the Corps, NSCDC, Commandant (Dr.) Ahmed Abubakar Audi for their failure to contend with the burning down of INEC across the nation by hoodlums who perpetuate the acts none arrested.

Some Nigerians reacted over the criminals’ constant attacks on the property of the Independent  Electoral Commission (INEC) across the nation with the recent setting ablaze of an office of the electrical umpires in Oru East Council Area of Imo State on Sunday (December 1st) has triggered the reactions from Nigerians, adding to the kidnapping of some construction workers who were later rescued as a case in point while making their feelings known through this platform.

“However, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Imo State, Professor Sylvia Uchenna Agu, stated that; “our office in Orlu Local Government Area was attacked. The incident occurred last Thursday (1st December 2022,”) INEC National Commissioner Festus Okoye said in a statement on Sunday.

“The building, which is undergoing extensive renovation following an earlier attack, was vandalized and partially set ablaze. Three out of seven construction workers were abducted but later released.”

Okoye said the damage would have been more extensive barring the response of the police personnel who were quick in mobilizing their men to the scene. 

“This is one attack too many. The Commission once again expresses its concern over the spate of attacks on its facilities and the negative consequences on our preparations for the 2023 General Election,” he added.

INEC has warned that the attacks may affect next year’s election 

Nigerians who volunteered their views across the country are of the view that the attacks on INEC offices have become a common issue across Nigeria, especially now that the nation is set for the polls early next year.

“In November, several INEC offices were attacked with the Commission warning of the threat of intensifying campaign violence ahead of the election, adding that it had tracked at least 50 attacks in the last two months”;  said Elder Joshua Ibeegbu in Umuahia.

In the Imo State INEC attack, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but within southeast Nigeria, there have been scores of attacks on INEC facilities and assaults on their personnel blamed on the outlawed separatists, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, or its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

IPOB, which seeks a separate state from the present Nigeria State, has repeatedly denied responsibility for the violence.

From our investigation, over 400 police and other security personnel have been killed since the beginning of last year in targeted attacks, according to local media tallies.

By the records available, the December 1st attack on the INEC office in Oru, Imo State is the seventh attack on the election umpire’s facilities in five states of the Federation in the last five months.

Worried that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) has short-lived the Act that established the Corps in 2003, which charged them among other responsibilities, to protect public and private property from vandals, our sources that pleaded anonymity said one of the cardinal points of the Corps was to safeguard the property of both the private and the government and since the Corps has failed Nigerians, they should scrap out of Nigeria Constitution.

“When salt lost its thirst, it must be thrown away. Men of the NSCDC are been paid with the taxpayer’s money and in as much as they are unable to safeguard the property of the government and that of the citizenry, their formation remains a waste to Nigerians”. One of our anonymous sources said. 

247thirdeye.com holds firm that Ebonyi state has recorded the burning of INEC in Ezza North and Izzi Local Government Areas respectively, Ogun, Imo, and other states in the country without any confrontation of the men of the NSCDC.

At the time of hitting the press, efforts made to establish like with either the Commandant General of NSCDC or his media aide hit on the rock as their phone contacts were not reached.