Four days to the Saturday rerun election in Rivers State, the National Youth Service Corps (NYS) has withdrawn corps mem�bers from participating in the exercise.
File photo
The National Youth Service Corps (NYS) has withdrawn corps memÂbers from participating in the Saturday rerun election in RivÂers State, just four days to the election exercise which will hold in Etche Local Government Area for the vacant House of Representatives’ seat.
While speaking during a stakeholdÂers’ meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State CoordinaÂtor of NYSC, Omotayo Adewoye, disclosed on Monday that the move to retrain 300 corps members for the elecÂtion was due to the violence that marred the last DecemÂber 10, 2016 election where he said, one corps member was killed.
Adewoye who spoke at the event organised by the State Police Command toÂwards a peaceful election in the council, said: “I am just a month old here, when on Thursday I received a letter calling for interested corps members, 300 in numbers to participate in the Etche election.
“I am quite aware of the Memorandum of UnderÂstanding (MoU) that exists between the Independent National Electoral CommisÂsion (INEC) and the NYSC. I am not a signatory to the MoU, so I had to approach the National Directorate Headquarters in Abuja. I equally contacted the field ofÂficer in Etche Local GovernÂment Area where the election is supposed to be held, to get the corps members ready in case we are taking part in the election.”
“I am standing here to let you know that the corps members may not take part in the election because of the violence that marred the last elections in this state in which we lost one corps member,” he said.
The election will hold in 147 polling units for House of Representatives and 74 polling units for State House of Assembly seats.