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 Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on Sunday, appealed to politicians to desist from politics of bloodshed to enhance growth and inclusiveness of the democratic process. NANS’ National Public Relations Officer (PRO), Comrade Bestman Okereafor, made the appeal in a statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu. DAILY POST recalls that  two persons were allegedly killed as 13 vehicles were damaged in pre-election violence  that erupted in Obot-Akara Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom on Friday, Feb. 15. Also, the Kaduna State Government had in a statement on Friday evening, confirmed that 66 persons were killed by unidentified gunmen in Kajuru local government of the state. Okereafor said: “No life is worth shedding for political scores. “As intellectuals, we have no doubt that the decision for postponement would have been reached based on life saving information at the disposal of INEC and not necessarily based on logistics cha...

Reactions have continued to trail the postponement of Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly Elections by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC). DAILY POST had reported that INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, while addressing reporters at the press centre of the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, the nation’s Capital said that the polls would not go on as planned due to some challenges encountered by the commission. He explained that the  decision to postpone the polls  followed a careful review of the implementation of the logistics and operational plans put in place for the exercise. The spokesman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Osun, Mr Taiwo Akeju, in a telephone interview with NAN in Osogbo on Saturday described the postponement of the elections as saddening and disheartening. Akeju said the postponement was a bad omen for Nigeria’s democracy and an unfortunate turn of events. He said the decision would dampen the spirit...