Benue INEC to recruit 8,000 ad hoc staff
Masari alleges plan to use ad hoc staff, SURE-P workers to rig in Katsina
he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benue State yesterday said the commission has concluded arrangement to engage a total of 8, 000 ad hoc staff for next month’s general elections.
State Resident Commissioner, Prof. Istifanus Dafwang, also disclosed that 7000 card readers would be deployed to various polling centres across the state to avoid sharing of extra ballot papers.
He said at the public briefing with stakeholders on the commission’s preparedness towards the 2015 general elections that the work of the card reader is basically to check and ensure that the card is the original property of the commission and that it belongs to the person holding it.
The REC also assured that the commission had begun distribution of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC) at the ward level, explaining that those who registered recently would soon start getting their PVCs and that the issuance of the cards would continue till February 7.
“We are working round the clock to ensure that people who recently registered get their PVCs. We will distribute the cards up till 7th February. With this new development, cards that are not yet collected by their owners would be moved to the ward collation centres as against going to the local government centres for ease of collection,” he said.
Dafwang assured that the commission would do its best to give the country a peaceful, credible, free and fair election with the cooperation of all citizens especially in the area of taking charge of polling units in their areas so that nobody jeopardised the efforts of INEC before, during and after the elections. The Masari campaign organisation has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state of trying to use staff of higher institutions and the SURE-P to rig the forthcoming elections.
Director general of Masari campaign, Muntari Lawal, in a statement alleged that the plan was to recruit FCE, polytechnic and university staff to serve as returning officers and subsequently hijack them.
“We are also very much aware of the desperate efforts at using SURE-P beneficiaries to further consolidate their rigging in addition to buying voters cards and destroying them,” he alleged.
He then called on the staff of the institution not to allow themselves to be used.
PDP spokesman, Salisu Sukuntuni waved the allegations as baseless and uncalled for, describing it as a cry of the fallen, adding that PDP is not responsible for recruitment of INEC ad hoc staff.