— INEC allegedly abandoned them.
Some of the Adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), who were kidnapped during the conduct of the 2023 state Assembly election in kogi state, has called on the Federal Government to come to their aide, saying ‘we are suffering’
The corps members who alleged that they have been abandoned by the electoral body, said they lost valuables and went through personal trauma, noted that INEC has refused to attend to their issues since March, 2023 when the unfortunate incident happened.
They said their release was facilitated through the personal efforts of their parents without any contribution from the electoral umpire.
The spokesperson of the group, Oricha Bose Blessing, told our correspondent that the electoral body in kogi state, instead of attending to their demand, said the corps members and their parents should engage the services of a lawyer to write to the INEC headquarters for their case to be addressed
“When we visited the INEC office in Lokoja, they told us to engage a lawyer to write through them to the headquarters.
“We are attended to by the admin man. The Resident Electoral Commissioner also said the same thing, while his opinion was sorted through a telephone conversation.
” They promised to assist us since we lost valuables, like phones, jewelries and other personal effects. They even promised to give us employment. Non of these premises have been met.
“We are calling on the federal government to come to our aide, since the electoral body has abandoned us to our fate. She pleaded.
All efforts to speak with either the REC or the officer in charge of Voter education, proved abortive as neither of them picked their calls or responded to the text messages sent to them.