INEC drafts students to conduct polls in Bauchi, Kaduna today

Posted by admin Bauchi, Elections 2011, INEC Politics, Kaduna, NNP Elections 2011 Updates, State News Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Following the decision by corps members to back out of the conduct of gubernatorial and state Assembly elections in the troubled Bauchi and Kaduna states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has settled for students of tertiary institutions in both states to serve as ad-hoc personnel for the election billed for today.

The bulk of the students would be drawn from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where Prof. Jega was the immediate past Vice Chancellor and Federal Polytechnic, Kaduna.
This is even as the commission disowned an announcement of the results of the gubernatorial election in Zamfara State made by a local radio station.

The plan by the INEC to draft students of those institutions followed the relocation of most of the serving corps members in the two affected states back to their states of origin in the wake of the post-presidential election carnage in some states.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was said to have also backed out of the existing partnership with INEC on the use of corps members for elections in the two states and therefore, did not issue formal directive to its directorates in the two states to that effect.

The INEC, besides the undergraduates, has equally directed its staff in some of the states in the North as well as Abuja headquarters to beef up the personnel to make the election possible.
At the Abuja headquarters of INEC yesterday, the staff and corps members serving in INEC were seen preparing to head for the states to lead the students in the conduct of the elections.
Sources told Daily Sun that the authorities of the institutions have given their blessings to the deployment of their undergraduates for the electoral job and would be paid. It was, however, not clear how much they would be paid.

Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Kayode Robert Idowu, confirmed to Daily Sun that the commission was already seeking the release of the undergraduates to assist the INEC staff in the conduct of the election today. He said the commission was doing all possible to ensure the elections hold in the two states and confirmed that the regular corps members might not be available for the exercise, hence the decision to recruit students of tertiary institutions in Kaduna and Bauchi states.

According to him, all INEC staff from the states are being deployed for the elections including corps members serving with INEC. He also expressed the hope that the corps members, who have declined to participate today might show up just as it happened in last Tuesday’s governorship election in the states where there was post-election violence.

On how much the commission would pay the undergraduates, Idowu said emphasis was not on money, but patriotism and service to fatherland, though he disclosed that they would be paid.
“Sure, they get paid, nobody works for INEC without getting paid, but we are emphasizing patriotism here.”

Meanwhile, the commission has dissociated itself from an announcement of results of the governorship election in Zamfara State, by a radio station, saying it did not authorize it and asked the members of the public to ignore it. A statement issued by the INEC and signed by Mr. Idowu said: “The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been drawn to an announcement of the Zamfara State governorship election results by a local radio station in the state, even when official results had not yet been declared at the Collation Centre.

“This announcement, for the avoidance of doubt, was unauthorized and illegal. As a matter of fact, the commission has warned the radio station’s authorities to desist from causing needless tension in the polity. “The public is hereby advised to ignore the unauthorized radio announcement and await a formal declaration of the results by the INEC Returning Officer, who is the only one statutorily empowered to make such declaration.

“The commission, once again, implores media organizations to keep within the provisions of the law regarding the declaration of election result.”

-Sunwp_posts