INEC ADHOC STAFF DENIED VOTING RIGHTS
The Independent National Electoral Commission (DRC) (INEC) is strongly called upon to address the prospective denial of voting rights to the trained adhoc staff who would conduct and supervise the forthcoming general elections.
To this end, it has been proven that according to electoral manual for the 2019 election, the electorates would cast their votes in specific wards where their names appear in the voter's register. Also, many adhoc staff, including Youth corps members who have been trained are to be posted at random to several wards where they would perform their duties and their chances of being posted to the polling units where their names appear in the voter's register is very slim. Against the backdrop, almost all the said adhoc staff and corps members are likely not to exercise the franchise during the forthcoming general election. This is indeed a mechanized machination and disenfranchisement and its consequences on the tension-soaked elections can never be overemphasized.
Precisely, there are 774 LGA's in Nigeria with 119,974 registered polling units. Now, for the purpose of this election, exactly 5 of the said election officers and 2 security personnel would be deployed to each of these polling units. It is offensively alarming that a whooping number of 839, 818 officials, including the aforementioned security operatives, would be disenfranchised in the said election if random posting method is adopted. It is high time INEC addressed this devastating issue. A new mechanism should be adopted to allow them cast their votes in their respective units of assignment or have them posted to their registered wards. This is a very serious issue which requires immediate positive measures to avert it's occurrence, if INEC still proves to be neutral towards the exercise and poised to conducting a free, fair and credible election.
Therefore all election-monitoring stakeholders and government parastatals are called upon to call the commission to order concerning the above matter which is capable of destroying the integrity of the commission, the incumbent government and the nation at large.
#electoralofficialsmustvote
#capitalNOtomechanizeddisenfranchisement
Nigerian Senate Nigerian National Assembly NIGERIAN PEOPLE'S PARLIAMENT Atiku Abubakar Abubakar Bukola Saraki Professor Yemi Osinbajo Africa Independent Television Channels Television TVC News Africa United Nations United Nations Human Rights European Union
