With eight days to the Ondo state governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that it would not post any member of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) to the riverine area of the state as ad-hoc staff.

There had been fears that members of the NYSC being used as ad-hoc staff in the coaster area of the state always fall victim to violence and attack.

But this time around, INEC said it was not ready to risk the life of any corps member in the state most especially in the ‘volatile places’ of the waterside area of the state.

Mrs. Dolapo Alo, the INEC officer in charge of Civil Society Organisation at the state office of the commission stated this on Friday while featuring on a radio program aired on Crest 87.7 Fm Akure.

She noted that the commission in time past had been recording series violence in the riverine area while members of the NYSC serving as ad-hoc staff had always fallen victims to brutal attacks.

While noting that the commission had been fully prepared for the October 10 governorship election, Mrs. All said the commission was prepared to use indigenes of the riverine area as ad hoc staff for the exercise.

“We are not going to deploy Corps members to that region but we would use the indigenes of that particular environment for the election in the riverine area.

“We have double the canons that would take the ad-hoc staff to the riverine area of the state in order to overcome the issue of delay in the arrival of election materials.

“And we have concluded the training for all these ad-hoc staffs that would be deployed for the next week Saturday election”.

Mrs. Alo also explained that the commission has started the distribution of non-sensitive materials to the 18 local government areas of the state in preparation for the election exercise.

“So for now we are only waiting for the arrival of the sensitive materials from our head office in Abuja for the election which would arrive few days for the election slated for next week Saturday.

“In fact, INEC is leaving no stone to unturn and we are set to improve on the Edo election because we have learned a lot of lessons”.

She, therefore, assured that the People Living With Disabilities (PWDs) are being taken care of by the commission in order to exercise their franchise freely during the election.

“They (PWDs) have been provided with the magnifying glasses for the purpose of the election.

“Also, brain ballot guide for the virtually impaired persons have also been made available and would be shared by INEC”.

Recalled that the riverine area had always been one of the flashpoints during elections in the state.

Civil society organizations, like YIAGA Africa, had identified the state waterside areas as parts of the trouble area to watch out for during the election exercise.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, has warned corps members who will be participating in the election, not to post results of the poll on social media.

Mr. Ibrahim said the corps members should build on the performance of their counterparts in Edo state as a good representative of the country.

He spoke on Friday in Akure, during his official visit to the state ahead of the forthcoming governorship poll.

While advising the corps members be security conscious, the NYSC DG said none of them should involve in the act that could make them run foul of electoral laws.

“Don’t compromise the integrity of the scheme and don’t post results of the election on social media”.