National Vice Chairman, South-South, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Emmanuel Ogidi, has called the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to priorities the safety of ad hoc staff conveyed to odd territories the elections.
Ogidi made the appeal in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja while reacting to the postponement of the 2019 general elections.
“The most worrisome is the case of INEC ad hoc staff, majority of whom were National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, who had been deployed to strange areas.
“I appealed to INEC to ensure the safety and comfort of the ad hoc staff wherever they were deployed,” he said.
The chieftain asked Nigerians to resist the urge to panic regardless of the disappointment over the re-planning of Presidential and National Assembly races.
Ogidi said that Nigerians ought to be urged to come and cast a ballot on Saturday, the new date, to keep any type of gear.
The PDP stalwart portrayed legislative issues as a round of intensity which had to do with God and that government officials must be watchful in all that they did.
Deriving from the Bible, he said that control had a place with God and that advancement did not originate from east or the west, the north or south yet from God alone.
Ogidi said that numerous Nigerians had gone to their towns to cast a ballot and had spent gigantic assets doing as such, while others had shut down organizations and occupation.
“Yes, people are disappointed but my advice to Nigerians is that they should remain calm and prayerful.
“They should be encouraged to come again to vote; come out to vote so that we can unite Nigeria again and get Nigeria working again.
“If the electorate come out, there cannot be rigging but when you do not come out, they can manipulate the ballot box,” he said.
Ogidi said that the deferment was extremely disillusioning and that it was disrespect for the country before the worldwide network.
“How can INEC that on Wednesday promised that everything had been deployed and that everything was ready tell us at 2.30 a.m. that it had postponed the elections?
“It is obvious that something is manipulating the system; there is an unseen hand in this but the real unseen hand is the hand of God and He alone had allowed this to happen and we thank Him.
“Once there is life, there is hope; yes, we have spent money and resources and we can get it back someday, but once life is lost, you cannot get it back,” he said.
Tallying misfortunes, the chairman said that he was stressed over the individuals who had lost their lives, particularly in Kaduna where 66 individuals were apparently killed couple of hours to the prior booked races.
According to him, global onlookers have gone down and have booked inns, and who is going to pay for that?
Ogidi added that individuals had moved internments, wedding services, including that understudies were back at home as schools had been closed down.