2023 Election: Volunteers replace INEC adhoc staff for duty

Some voters at Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, volunteered as adhoc officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ,when the INEC adhoc staff failed to report for election duty.

The volunteers took the place of the adhoc staff to ensure that voting took place at polling units 006, 007 and 008 at Uruokwe Central School in Ozubulu, Ekwusigo LGA on Saturday.

Reports had it that some corps members earlier trained and deployed for election duties at the polling units did not show up on Saturday.

Only the presiding officers who were not corps members reported to duty making some voters to volunteer to serve as adhoc officials.

The difficulty posed a challenge as the volunteers were untrained and had difficulties handling the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and following laid down procedure for the exercise.

It was the same situation at Polling Units 018 and 019,in Umuanyiegbu Hall, Ward 004, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo LGA.

The presiding officers refused to talk with journalists and efforts to get the Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC, Dr Elizabeth Agwu, to react to the development proved abortive.

Also in Enugu, some volunteers especially youth were seen assisting some adhoc staff in setting up the polling booths and maintaining orderliness in some areas in the state.

At the Federal Government College, Enugu, one of the volunteers simply known as Nonso, said that he decided to assist to ensure smooth conduct of the election.

”I decided to assist to control the overwhelming crowd. I have never seen this kind of turnout since general elections were held in this country. So, my friends and I volunteered to help since there are very few security personnel in the polling unit,” he said.

NAN / F.I