2019 elections: NYSC DG solicits army, police protection for corps members

By Omuboye Sukubo
#TrackNigeria: Maj.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, Director-General (D-G), NYSC, has solicited the protection of corps members by the Police Command and the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Rivers during the general forthcoming elections.
Kazaure made the request during his separate courtesy visits to the heads of the two security agencies in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
He commended the army and the Police Command in Rivers for the support they had been giving to the NYSC in the state.
According to Kazaure, the corps members are national assets on national assignment and needed to be protected.
”As you know, the corps members will participate in the forthcoming election as ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
”You know that we lost a corps member during the 2015 election in Rivers, so, I need your support for them to be well protected in carrying out that critical assignment,” he said.
In his response, The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Usman Belel, assured the NYSC DG that it was mandatory for the police to protect lives and property.
”It is mandatory for the police to protect INEC materials and staff members, especially NYSC members. We will do everything possible to protect them in partnership with sister security agencies.
”So, I assure you that we will do everything within our reach to protect the young Nigerians as they embark on the 2019 electoral assignment,” he said.
Belel sympathised with the NYSC for the death of its member while on national service in Rivers in 2015 and thanked the director general for the visit.
Similarly, Maj.-Gen. Jamil Sarham, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, told the NYSC boss that the army was ready to protect the corps members before, during and after the elections.
Sarham stated that the division has launched Operation Egwu Eke III to flush out criminals, vendors of fake news and other people doing things inimical to national security.
He assured the NYSC director general that the visit was a challenge for the army to take the protection of the corps members more seriously.
”We are going to live up to the expectations of every Nigerian in this regard,” he said.
The GOC commended him for visiting the division and promised to do more for the NYSC in their areas of partnership. (NAN)