Politics
Election uncertain in Akwa Ibom as fire guts INEC office hours to polls
There are indications that the governorship and House of Assembly elections may not hold in Akwa Ibom State on Saturday March 9, as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This followed the fire incident that gutted the office of the electoral body in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of Friday morning.
Reports from the area on how the office was gutted by fire a day to the elections said the incident happened around 2:am following an explosion that erupted inside the building.
Efforts by people to put off the fire was not enough to stop it from damaging some election materials like card readers, which are meant to be used for the election.
Already, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini, has visited the scene to ascertain the extent of the damage.
There has been heightened tension in Akwa Ibom during and after the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections, which saw the state former governor and ex-Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, lose his bid to return to the Senate on All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.
READ ALSO: Governors down with election fever! Who gets rejected at the polls?
The Saturday governorship election in the state is being fiercely contested between incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Nsima Ekere of the APC.
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