By John Oba
Abuja
The European Union Election Observation Mission-Nigeria 2015 yesterday declared that it was not interested in who becomes the next president of the country, but in the process of the elections.
This was coming as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) said participation of corps members in the conduct of the elections was optional, as the scheme did not make it mandatory.
The EU Deputy Chief Observer, Hannah Roberts, stated this when she led the EU team on a visit to the Director General of the NYSC, in Abuja.
She maintained that EU observers were on ground in all the states of the federation to monitor the forthcoming general elections, adding that a preliminary report on the elections would be released two days after the poll.
She said: “We are neutral, impartial, interested only in the process considering the international treaties that Nigeria had signed and ratified. We have teams spread across. We are interested in how the election results will be compiled and accepted by Nigerians.
“We will produce public statement two days after the election and later produce final report and findings on the election. We are here to find out your challenges because we know the role of NYSC in election coverage.”
Responding, the NYSC Director General, Brig-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, noted that all issues raised which included the safety of corps members by the public had been adequately taken care of by the government.
He said: “In all these elections, it is not compulsory; they are not forced to partake in elections. They are not forced, at the end of online registration; we have about 168,000 who registered out of about 248,000 corps members that participate in the service annually.
“In my interaction with them, a lot of them are enthusiastic about taking part in the election. If the election is credible, they will be happy that they were part of the exercise.
“One thing we always emphasise is that they must maintain neutrality and must not be in any political party. They don’t partake in political rallies. It’s against our rules.”
