INEC AND AD HOC STAFF

INEC AND AD HOC STAFF

Monday Letter

Anybody who had been following the INEC tussles right from the beginning will testify that the Independent National Electoral Commission under the leadership of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu was not set for the conduct of the postponed election in spite of their so-called preparedness.

The most patent instance was the recent release of the list of INEC ad hoc staff: the fact that the commission had no definite and organised way of selecting them is enough to posit that the commission was not well organised for the task.

Having subjected the students and corps members to an excruciating stress during the screening, the commission selected randomly from the applicants and disposed of the rest without any tangible benchmark for disqualifying them.

The most surprising part of it was that the INEC list contained the names of some candidates who didn’t partake in the training or the examination. If INEC knew that they wanted to select candidates randomly they shouldn’t have subjected the applicants to so much stress. Many wasted their time, energy and money.

The worst part was how INEC left the shortlisted ad hoc staff under the cold weather on the night of the election without caring about their security and welfare.

It’s sad that the commission which has no other function than to conduct election once in four years now impulsively disappoints fellow Nigerians at the eleventh hour. If the postponement will not cause any other problems, I believe that it will cause election apathy.

Nurudeen Akewushola, UDUS

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