Nigeria Polls: Gunmen Destroy Ballot Boxes In Attack

Nigeria’s electoral body says nearly 800 ballot boxes and over 200 voting cubicles were destroyed during an attack on one of its offices in the south-eastern state of Anambra.

The attack comes less than a month before the country’s general elections.

The police in Anambra state said gunmen invaded the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) in Ojoto in the early hours of Wednesday.

Police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga told journalists that the group also attacked a police station and a residential building located within the same vicinity.

He said that a teenager was killed and another sustained injury and was taken to hospital.

It is the latest in the series of attacks on the electoral commission’s offices in the region – where the separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, is active.

The attacks targeting the electoral body's offices have raised questions on the security of election officials and materials in the run-up to the polls.

Two weeks ago, the European Union said the elections may not be held in some parts of the country due to a “hostile security climate".

EU official Rudolf Elbling said such an eventuality would raise “a lot of legal implications for the entire process”.

The electoral commission has previously said there will be no delays to the elections despite insecurity in some parts of the country.