Ad-hoc staff besiege INEC office in Owerri Some trained ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Saturday, besieged electoral office over alleged non-inclusion in the elections duties. The ad hoc staff numbering about 300 persons, besieged the INEC office in Owerri, awaiting information from INEC officials. One of them, Mr Mike Echetama, told NAN that they were trained staff of tertiary institutions in the state who applied to work as Collation Officers and Returning officers during the elections. Echetama, a staff of the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri said they had been at the INEC premises since the eve of the elections. He alleged that INEC had failed to publish any list of ad hoc staff for the elections, leaving them in the dark. “We learnt that only staff of the Federal University of Technology Owerri will be needed in the elections,” he said. He also lamented that if they were not shortlisted for the work they...

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has announced the arrest of one Okon Bassey in possession of 244 Permanent Voter Cards in Akwa Ibom State and dislodged 35 drug joints and hotspots in Kano State ahead of the elections. A cash sum of N310,000 was recovered from the suspect who was arrested in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The Akwa Ibom command of the NDLEA also arrested 120 suspected hard drug dealers found to be in possession of 51kg of cannabis, 259gm of heroin, 17gm of cocaine, 500gm of Tramadol Diazepam and Polypro. The agency said the suspected PVC thief had been handed over to the Independent National Electoral Commission for further investigation, while others caught with hard drugs had been charged to court. Abdallah said, “Despite the challenges being faced by our officers and men in terms of manpower and logistics, they have performed creditably in clearing political thugs and drug addict’s hideout within a few days of its sting operatio...