Governor Chukwuma Soludo, of Anambra State, on Thursday afternoon, visited Ukpor, the headquarters of Nnewi South Council Area of the state, to ascertain the level of damage caused by the fire outbreak that occurred in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Nigerian Tribune had earlier reported that persons suspected to be gunmen troubling Southeastern Nigeria, had set ablaze the headquarters for reasons best known to them.
Some residents in the area said that the attack was carried out in the wee hours of Wednesday.
They said people are currently living in fear due to the incident.
Confirming the incident to Nigerian Tribune, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, said the Council Headquarters has been cordoned off by police operatives and the state firefighters were also deployed there to control the situation.
He promised to update the media more on the development later.
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Reacting to the incident via a post on Facebook which was extracted by Nigerian Tribune, Soludo said he was at Ukpor, the scene of last night’s attack by some arsonists.
According to him, “This mindless bloodletting and destruction of infrastructure do not define who we are! Nothing can justify these acts of criminality.
“As I looked at what is left of the rubbles, I asked myself, “in all this, who loses?”
“Structures built from the taxes paid by the genuinely hard-working men and women on the streets are ruined for reasons that are incomprehensible to sane minds.
“The resources that should have been deployed to provide more for struggling taxpayers, would now be channelled into reconstructing these destroyed buildings and rebuilding missing records. It is very impossible to make any meaningful progress this way.
“Quite frankly, ndị Anambra cannot be repressed by a few criminal elements. Our resolve to entrench law and order is total, no amount of wanton destruction will cower us.
“I remember with a deep sense of grief, the three gallant police officers – Inspector Murtala Saudi, Sgt. Mudassir Ahmed, and Sgt. Samuel Ishaya, who lost their lives to the unknown gunmen who attacked us at a meeting with the youths in my village on this day last year. We pledge to continue to take care of their families, and for their sake and many others who lost their lives to the sheer wickedness of a few misguided people, we shall not relent in our effort to make Anambra liveable and prosperous.”
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