From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
Ahead of the next Saturday rescheduled elections, the Kogi state NYSC Coordinator, Ahile Oludolapo has alerted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the widespread allegation that NYSC Kits are being made available for fake corpers.
The NYSC Coordinator gave the hint while speaking during the stakeholders meeting in Lokoja which was summoned by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Professor James Apam to intimate them on the level of preparation for the rescheduled elections on Saturday.
According to the NYSC Boss, there are fears that the parents of the Corpers do not want them to participate in the postponed election again after their ordeal in the botched election but I stood for the safety of the corps members.He asked the REC to clear the air and reassure parents of their ward’s safety.
Responding, the Resident Electoral commissioner said there should be no fear of fake corps members being used to conduct elections.
According to him, “there is no way they would just come and take over to conduct elections as they would not know how to use the card readers as they are not trained for that. There is no way.”
On how prepared the commission is, the REC affirmed that INEC is fully prepared, saying that the commission has recieved additional materials and in fact was still expecting some Wednesday evening.
“We have configured the smart card readers and we will mobilise to the field as scheduled” the REC further confirmed.
He announced that all party leaders across the state should mobilized for collection of electoral materials from the Central Bank at 9’Oclock in the morning on Thursday unfailingly.
The REC further gave an assurance that there cannot be fake corpers as the commission had already posted corpers to the polling units, stressing that there is no way anybody can take their duty from them affirming that they will surely conduct the elections and report back to us.
On what efforts have been made to sensitized the electorate that have been discouraged due to the postponement, he said even the meeting they have just had is part of that effort to sensitized them and we will still go to the Media.
Also during the meeting, the police threw the challenge to the politicians that they are the ones recruiting the thugs with an appeal to them to play their role in ensuring that there is no violence before, during and after the polls.
