NYSC withdraws corpers from parts of Anambra State amid fears they could become electoral violence targets

NATIONAL Youth Service Corp (NYSC) managers have withdrawn corpers from certain parts of Anambra State ahead of Saturday's governorship and state house of assembly elections amid fears that they could be in harm's way.

 

On Saturday, Nigerians go to the polls to elect 30 governors and members of state houses of assembly in all 36 states of the federation. In Anambra Stare, the governorship is not being contested this time around by the race for the state house of assembly is expected to be fierce and there are fears that corpers, who act as ad-hoc staff could become targets of hoodlums hired by political parties.

 

During the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, one female NYSC member was abducted and there are fears there may be incidences of this on Saturday. Dr Nwachukwu Orji, the Independent national Electoral Commission (Inec) resident electoral commissioner in Anambra State, confirmed that he had been informed of the development by NYSC managers.

 

Dr Orji said: “I received a letter from the NYSC saying it won’t deploy corps members to conflict-prone areas but that is not a source of worry to us. We have people in our database standing by for engagement and some even come to the polling unit uninvited, waiting for opportunities to work, so we will take care of the situation.”

 

NYSC coordinator, Kehinde Aremu, had written to Inec in Anambra State asking for the withdrawal of corps members from certain regions based on the directive from the headquarters barring corpers from volatile areas. Dr Orji said he remained confident that the development would not pose any challenge to Saturday's elections as Inec had more than enough trained staff to replace the corps members.

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