Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed that fire engulfed its Data Processing Centre (DPC) located at the premises of the Commission’s state office in Kano State, Northern Nigeria on Tuesday.
Resident Electoral Commission (REC) for the state, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu confirmed this in a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye.
According to the statement, the fire started at 10:15am, although staff made efforts to put it off but were overwhelmed and it engulfed the said DPC before it was contained by Federal Fire Service.
Shehu said although physical items got burnt, data of voter register for the state and other sensitive documents are backed up offsite and therefore safe, adding that they would be recovered swiftly.
He however assured that the incident will not in any way affect the operations of the commission.
The INEC REC added that investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing and necessary measures are being put in place to avoid future occurence.