Politicians in Rivers and their supporters have been advised to ensure that peace prevailed in the state during the governorship and House of Assembly elections on Saturday. Director- General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Johnson Olawumi, gave the advice on Thursday in Port Harcourt while addressing NYSC members in the state. “I want to use this opportunity to call on politicians in Rivers state that they should please plead with their supporters not to perpetrate violence during the elections,” he said.
Olawumi, however, assured no fewer than 4,631 corps members in the state, including those that would participate in the elections, of their safety. He urged them to go about their electoral duties without fear, saying that it was part of their national assignment. He advised the corps members against arguments with people on any issue whenever their lives were threatened. “When you are under threat; if anybody threatens you at gun point, don’t just argue, let him snatch whatever he wants to snatch way.
“Your security is paramount; go back and do your report and we make the report available to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and result of such place will be cancelled,” he said.
The director-general also advised the NYSC members to alert security agencies whenever they sensed danger to enable security personnel rescue them. “I want you to help us as far as your security is concerned. When you notice that something is going wrong, just quickly make a call and we will get people to come and rescue you,” he advised. He told the corps members to remain neutral while performing the electoral duties, saying, “we want you as much as possible to be very neutral, maintain your neutrality, do not be biased, perform your duty professionally”.
In his contribution, Koko Essien, Commander of 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, said dedicated security telephone numbers of military personnel on patrol duty would be passed to NYSC members on election duty. According to him, once a call comes from any of three dedicated lines, the patrol team will know it is from an NYSC member in distress and will go for rescue operation. Essien advised the corps members not to wait until they were in danger before making calls to the numbers, saying “you should call the moment you sense danger”.
