The measure is to reduce the trend of attacks on corps members and avoid a repeat of what happened during the 2011 post-election violence in parts of the North.
A statement on Saturday by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the National Youth Service Corps, Mrs. Bose Aderibigbe, said the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, said this during a pre-election advocacy visit by the Director-General of NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, to the monarch’s palace.
The statement stated, “The Sultan also charged security agencies to provide adequate protection for corps members and other personnel that will be involved in the conduct of the forthcoming general elections. The Sultan told the DG about a standing directive from the Sultanate Council to all District Heads in the state, asking them to take charge of the safety of corps members, serving in their domains, and went on to advocate the replication of the same arrangement in other parts of the country.”
While calling on the public, especially politicians, to ensure the safety of the corps members, the monarch enjoined corps members not to be deterred by the crisis in the past, but to consider their involvement in the conduct of elections as a national duty.
He called upon the corps members to approach the electoral assignment with a high sense of patriotism and avoid being partisan in their duties.
The monarch reminded them that winners of elections had already been pre-destined by God and wondered why some of them viewed elections as a do-or-die affair.
The Sultan also used the occasion to call for recognition and compensation to persons who suffered incapacitation in the course of service to the nation.
The NYSC boss told the Sultan that the security of corps members was paramount to the scheme.
He appealed to the monarch to help in sensitising members of the public, especially politicians, on the need to ensure the safety of the corps members before, during and after the elections.
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