The chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has reiterated the commission’s assurance that members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) participating as ad-hoc staff during the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State would be adequately protected.
Yakubu stated this during the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting held at the conference room of the INEC state office in Akure.
He said the success recorded during the recently held election in Edo State is an indication the commission is improving on its operation in all ramifications and cannot afford to lower the bar come October 10, 2020.
“The NYSC is one of our principal partners at ensuring that we have credible, free, fair and generally acceptable election and we shall do all things legally possible to make sure that their participation is not in any way jeopardised,” he added.
The INEC boss expressed the commission’s readiness to conduct another successful election in the sunshine state, saying all hands must remain on deck to leverage on the Edo experience.
Earlier in her remarks, the NYSC state coordinator, Mrs Grace Akpabio, restated management’s stand that corps members should not be posted to riverine areas for the election duties.
Akpabio informed the stakeholders which had in attendance INEC national commissioners and heads of security and uniformed agencies as well as the representative of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 that the members of the service corps have been sensitised on the roles expected of them during the election.
At the meeting, the security chiefs who spoke through the joint chairman of ICCES and commissioner of Police, CP Bolaji Salami, allayed the fears expressed by the NYSC management and disclosed the corps members would receive the best from the security personnel deployed for the election.
