“It pains INEC profoundly when life is lost in the course of conducting elections. No matter the grievances of those involved in political contest, nothing justifies the cold blooded murder of an innocent official conducting a legitimate national assignment intended to afford citizens the right to freely choose their leaders”.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu stated this yesterday when he paid a condolence visit to the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Johnson Bamidele Olawunmi.
Professor Yakubu who led a high-powered delegation of the Commission consisting of National Commissioners and Directors assured that the Commission would fully participate in honouring the sacrifice of late Okonta Samuel and other members of the NYSC who may have suffered injury or even worse in the course of election duty in Nigeria in any way the NYSC considered appropriate.
Okonta Samuel, a serving Youth Corps member, lost his life as an ad-hoc election official during the Saturday 19th March, 2016 Rivers state re-run elections.
Professor Yakubu disclosed that another Corps member, Amana Oniekon, who could not be accounted for had been found hale and hearty. “We are glad to note that the other Corps member, Amana Oniekon Odoeto who could not be accounted for, has been found alive, hale and hearty but understandably traumatized,” he said.
During the condolence visit at the NYSC headquarters, the INEC Chairman announced the offer of automatic employment to an ex-National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Adeigba Daniel, who served in Yobe state between 2010 and 2011 and lost his eye sight due to injuries sustained while participating as an Ad-hoc staff in the 2011 general elections.
The INEC Chairman said: “my attention was drawn to an ex-Corps member who lost his eye sight as a result of injuries he sustained in the course of conducting the 2011 general election. I wish to inform you that INEC is offering immediate employment to the Corps member. He will be deployed to any of our state or local government office of his choice anywhere in Nigeria”.
Professor Yakubu who explained that the visit was to pay the NYSC Director General (DG), Brigadier General Johnson Bamidele Olawunmi and the entire NYSC family a condolence visit, regretted the loss of an innocent youth who out of love for his country paid the ultimate price of losing his life on national assignment.
He extolled the virtues and contributions of Corps members in the conduct of elections, saying: “The young men and women in the NYSC are among the most educated, most committed, most reliable, most neutral and most patriotic election duty staff available to INEC. Their loss in the course of double national assignment, the Youth service and election duty is a tragedy of monumental national proportion.
“The NYSC and INEC have been in this happy partnership which tremendously helped in the management of our elections. I can’t imagine the successful conduct of elections in Nigeria without the partnership of the NYSC”.
The Minister for Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung, who was at the occasion, lamented the recurring incidence of violence during elections. He said: “The act of violence during election is not only condemnable but is indeed a reflection of what I can refer to as primitive political culture. It is primitive for anybody to assume that he must shed blood to be able to access power.”
He appealed to politicians to play the game of politics in accordance with existing laws, stressing that: “at no point should officials and spectators of our game be made to be casualties of that game. Power is not worth the life of one single Nigerian”.
The Minister assured that the government would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the perpetrators of the evil act were brought to book and faced the full wrath of the law. “We want to assure Nigerians that under this administration of change, impunity will never be celebrated. Actors of the wicked act in Rivers state must be brought to book and must be punished”.
Responding, the NYSC DG, Brigadier General Johnson Bamidele Olawunmi, called on the government of Rivers state to do everything possible to pursue the incident to a logical conclusion to ensure that those who killed this innocent young man were brought to book.
“It is a shame that a society where there is a government, where there are community leaders and elders will allow an innocent corps member to be killed within where this Corps member was offering national service”, he lamented.
General Olawunmi disclosed that he had set up a Committee of Inquiry into the death of Mr. Okonta, and had mandated the Committee to go to Port-Harcourt to do a full investigation into the incident.
He commended the efforts of INEC in ensuring the safety and security of Corps members on election duty. He said: “INEC has been doing its best as far as the security of Corps members is concerned. I must also seize this opportunity to appreciate the security agencies for their efforts, because if not for them, perhaps it could have been more than that”.
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