Corps members threaten to withdraw from elections in Delta!

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving as electoral officers in Delta State have threatened to withdraw their services in subsequent elections in the ongoing general election because of the ugly experiences they encountered during last Saturday's National Assembly election in the state.

Those who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune recounted their experiences, saying they were harassed and humiliated during the conduct of the exercise by thugs and some political youth leaders for their resolve not to compromise and dance to their tune.

Incidentally, some of them succumbed to intimidation to save their lives by allowing the youth leaders in some wards in Uvwie Local Government Area who allegedly forced the  electorate to vote for the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area.

A female youth corps member, who preferred to be anonymous, lamented to the Nigerian Tribune that she was thoroughly beaten and her skirt torn to shreds at one of the units in the local government area for refusing to cooperate with some political leaders in the area.

"Some political leaders in the unit I served in Uvwie said I should allow them take the election materials into a room to thumb print but I refused. I insisted that the people must be allowed to vote.

"They became angry and descended on me. The policemen looked the other way apparently signifying that they had compromised. They eventually snatched the materials and ran only to return later with stuffed ballot boxes. What could I alone do?" she said.

Another youth corps member who served at one of the units in Ward 8 in Warri South Local Government Area of the state, said he was threatened severally and had to compromise by allowing the youth and political leaders dictate the process of the election.

"They were all over me, threatening that they would kill me and nothing would happen. They said the worst was that nobody will know who kill me because no investigations had been conclusively conducted in the cases of those that had been killed in the process of this election," he said.

According to most of the corps members spoken to, their resolve was to withdraw from the exercise and allow indigenes conduct the election the way they wanted and would not sacrifice their lives for nothing.

A top security officer confirmed the experiences of the corps members in the field, noting that majority of them had one tale or the other to recount and that reports to that effect had been forwarded to appropriate quarters.

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http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/20327-corps-members-threaten-to-withdraw-from-elections-in-delta