Fire Guts Ebonyi Assembly’s Accounts Office   

The Ebonyi State House
of Assembly complex was on Tuesday razed by a mysterious fire, suspected to be the handiwork of arsonists.
Our correspondent learnt that the entire legislative complex would have been gutted by the fire, which reportedly started around 1.15am, but for the intervention of a combined team of men of the fire service and the police force, who were able to put off the flames.
But the fire had already destroyed sections of the building before it was put out.
The finance, supply and accounts sections were completely razed, with items, including financial records, furniture, computer sets, refrigerators, air conditioners, ceiling and standing fans and other valuabes worth millions of Naira, destroyed.
Police Public Relations Officer, Ebonyi State Police Command, Chris Anyanwu, said the police had launched investigations in a bid to get to the root of the incident.
He said, “We got a distress call from the police officer in charge of the House of Assembly complex that there was fire outbreak in the area. We dispatched our men to this place and they were led by the Commissioner of Police, Dikko Maigari. With the combine effort of men of the fire service and police force, the fire was put off.
“As you can see, the account section of the Assembly has been razed and it is the only wing that was affected by this inferno.The Department of Investigation of the police command has commenced their investigation and as soon as they unravel the cause of the inferno, we will update you.”
Meanwhile, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, led by the Speaker, Chukwuma Nwanzuku, went ahead to sit yesterday, where it suspended two members – the Deputy Speaker, Blaise Orji, and Oliver Nwachukwu – both of whom are believed to be Elechi’s loyalists.
Efforts to get a response from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Dr. Onyekachi Eni, were not successful as of the time of filing this report.