Politics
Nigerian workers on essential duty regret their inability to vote in the general elections on Saturday, February 23
SOME workers on essential duty on election day in FCT have expressed sadness over inability to exercise their franchise in the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Some of the officials who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Central Business Area on condition of anonymity said they were not happy about the development.
A Federal Road Safety Corps official said it registered at Abacha Barracks, Asokoro but was deployed to Post office, Area 10 Polling Unit for election duty.
“You see all of us here, we are Nigerians and we have our preferred candidates but we cannot leave our duty post.
“We are calling on INEC to look at how they can give us preferential treatment so that we can exercise our right since we are working for the citizens,’’ she said.
A female Immigration officer also in the Unit said she registered in her village but could not vote.
“ I would have loved to vote but because of my work schedule, I could not do so. I will appreciate if INEC can device a means for us to vote,” she said.
Similarly, an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, on duty along Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Central Area said he did not even register at all because he knew he was not going to vote.
“You see me here with my colleagues, we would have loved to exercise our voting rights but we cannot, because we are on duty.
“ We are all Nigerians so government should do something about it in 2023 elections,’’ he said.
Also, some police officers and Traffic Road officers said they could not leave their duty posts to vote.
In the same vein, some journalists who could not vote expressed dissatisfaction over inability to exercise their franchise.
A male journalist said it was his desire to vote but that he found it difficult to register because of the challenge of the job.
Similarly, a female journalist said she tried her best to vote but could not because she worked in another polling unit different from where she registered.
“I ran to my polling unit at 2:57pm thinking I will still have the grace of extension as announced by INEC, only to be told that voting has ended.
“It will be good for INEC to see how votes of essential workers will count in subsequent elections,’’ she said. – NAN
– Feb. 24, 2019 @ 12:39 GMT |
