At least 108 INEC staff from Enugu State have been
deployed for the conduct of the Imo governorship supplementary election
today. Josiah Uwazuruonye, INEC resident electoral commissioner in
Enugu State told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu
that the directive came from INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Mr Uwazuroye said: “As a result of what happened
in the country concerning youth corps members, most of them are no
longer eager to continue participation as ad-hoc staff in respect of
the election.
“Most of them still nurse the morbid fear that
what happened in the North might also be extended to them in the east.
“INEC does not want to take chances in case we do not have full
complement of corps members.
“We were given directive to deploy our competent
staff to conduct the supplementary election in Imo State,” he said. Mr
Uwazuroye added, “If the situation arises where the corpers are not
eager to participate, so INEC can as well make use of its staff.
“That is why staff from Enugu and other
neighbouring states are being invited to report at Owerri for the
exercise, if we do not have full complement of corps members to take
part in the supplementary election.”
The REC said that deployment of staff to different
local government areas in Imo rested solely on the INEC office in
Owerri. Mr Uwazuruonye, however, enjoined INEC staff from Enugu State
to live up to expectations and replicate a peaceful election just as
they did in Enugu.
“We conducted a peaceful election in Enugu State. They should go and showcase that thing they did in Enugu,” he said.
