Ebenezer Olawale, the State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps in Anambra State, has said all the corps members brought from Enugu State would be paid their election allowances.
Olawale, who reacted to allegations of abandonment of the corps members, said he got the information at 1.57pm on Saturday.
He said: “I am going to the place where the corps members are kept to see how they are fairing.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that scores of NYSC members drafted from Enugu State for the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State were stranded on Saturday.
NAN reports that the NYSC members, brought in three luxury buses on November 17, were not deployed, but left at the Amawbia Office of INEC.
One of the corps members, who preferred anonymity, told NAN on Saturday at Amawbia that they were brought in from Enugu North Local Government Area in Enugu State for the election, but were not deployed by INEC.
The corps member said: “Most of us are NYSC members serving in Enugu North and other parts of Enugu State.
“They brought us in three luxurious buses about 3pm on Friday, but as we speak, none of us was sent to a work in any polling unit.
“From the time they brought us to this place (INEC office, Amawbia), they abandoned us.
“We slept in open halls and exposed to mosquito bites.
“In my rating, the treatment they have given to us so far is like that given to a leprosy patient.
”Nobody asked if we have had breakfast as at noon or if we have taken our bath.
“This situation is a big puzzle for me.
“If I have my way, but for the restriction of movement, I would have gone back to Enugu.”
A female corps member, simply called Iniobong, said she gathered that their abandonment was because a political party contesting the election accused INEC of trying to use NYSC members deployed from Enugu State to rig the governorship election.
Iniobong said: “I learnt that a political party raised issue of possible usage of NYSC members coming from Enugu to rig election during INEC Stakeholders meeting in Awka on Tuesday.
“Since the issue of suspicion of NYSC coming from Enugu came on Tuesday, NYSC and INEC management should not have allowed us to be brought here on Friday after that Tuesday.
“This manner of treatment is to say the least, very sad and I feel highly pained over the inhuman treatment we are facing here.”
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