Sokoto, the capital f Sokoto State was thrown into panic on Thursday night as the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) offices in the city burst into flames as a petrol tanker attempted to discharge its content within the official complex.

The situation came amid preparations by the state for today’s governorship election.

The office complex of the communication company is located within Dogon Daji, along a major dual carriage way in the city.

The incident which occurred at about 10.30 pm, caused a commotion as passers-by scampered for safety, thinking that a bomb had just detonated.

The complex harboured a mini filling station, meant for the use of members of staff and people in the neighbourhood.

There was pandemonium in the area, whereas a tanker was just discharging petrol when the fire incident occurred.

Witnesses told Saturday Tribune that the fire outbreak occurred from a butt of cigarette carelessly thrown on the ground by one of the attendants which immediately ignited the inferno.

Immediate assistance in putting off the fire was late in coming, making passers-by to flee the area on a rumour that a bomb had just detonated, particularly because of a loud bang that heralded the fire.

It took some fire fighters some time to arrive the spot, but still could not gain access immediately to the complex due to the high intensity of the inferno which eventually consumed the entire NIPOST building.

Meanwhile, all is set for the election as investigations showed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 30 contestants and their parties as well as the law enforcement agencies have braced up for the poll.

The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Hussaini Ahmed Mahuta, said INEC was prepared for the exercise, as it had recruited 11,000 ad-hoc staff for the exercise.
No fewer than 244 of them are supervisory presiding officers; 267 collation officers and 10,512 presiding and assistant presiding officers who would man polling units in the 244 wards across the state.

Mahuta said that the ad-hoc staff were from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and federal tertiary institutions in the state.

On logistics, he said the commission had made adequate arrangement for the timely movement of men and sensitive materials to designated points, while enough vehicles and animals such as donkeys and camels would be used to deploy men and materials.

Also speaking, the Sokoto state candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Alhaji Yusha’u Muhammad Ahmad Kebbe said his party was fully prepared for the exercise but pleaded with the commission to do all that was possible to ensure a fair poll.

Kebbe, however, said the ANPP would not condone a selective application of rules by relevant agencies conducting the election, and assured of the readiness of his party’s supporters to conduct themselves peacefully during the election.

The running mate of the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji Gusau also said they were fully prepared for the governorship election.
On its part, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said it was fully prepared for the election.

The state Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tukur Wazirin Bodinga said the campaign train of the party went to all the nooks and crannies of the state drumming support for the candidature of the immediate-past state governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko.

Speaking earlier at the INEC stakeholders meeting, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Alhaji Baba Adisa Bolanta assured of the determination of security agencies to ensure the peaceful conduct of the election.

The CP, who doubled as Chairman, Sokoto State Inter-Agency Committee on Election security, said the entire 5,000 officers and men of the command would be deployed for the election.

He said the officers and men of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) and the State Security Service (SSS) would complement security towards making the election hitch-free.

The Sokoto CP said there would be restriction of vehicular movement through out the state, except those who were on election duties.

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