Lost Files

 About seven of us had been selected, as leaders from our respective CDS groups, to serve as leaders overseeing Corp members in different polling centres and units across the city of PortHarcourt. The assignment was clear and simple, get citizens verified & registered and also avoid the intrigues of local politics, as Corpers are supposed to be non-partisan.


I was assigned to oversee Civic Centre area all the way to Lagos street and I was prepared not to fail. 


A shabby training was organised for us, with the expectation that we would use our ingenuity to improvise where we may feel necessary, afterall we were graduates.


The exercise eventually started. My position, as with other leaders meant that we were responsible for all the corp members under our units, especially as it pertained to welfare & safety. Of course we had heard a lot of stories and seen some scenes for ourselves how this downtown zone can be very tensed. It was going to be one step at a time, and any sign of brouhaha or violence, "run for your life" was the motto.


We would converge every evening at the lodge to discuss all that happened. We had feedbacks from some of us of how they received special treatment from local politicians, in a bid to get them to register fictitious names of persons, just to inflate the figure of registered voters in that area. I never had such temptations anyway, as I'm not sure how I was supposed to react: Compromise for my own safety or not compromise and face the consequences.


Slowly but surely the days began to wind up and Corpers were already becoming apprehensive, because of news that the State Coordinator had other plans for our renumeration & compensation, which we were to receive at the end of the exercise. As a result of this, we needed to call for an urgent meeting with the rep of the INEC State EC. On a cool evening, somewhere around Garrison, he hosted seven of us at a bar and ordered for peppersoup and drinks to compliment in "washing it down". After the feast, we had serious issues to discuss with the EC about the threats Corpers were already issuing about downing their tools & disrupting the registration process to protest the likelihood of either delayed or probable non-payment of their entitlements as rumoured. However, we were too full and drunk to remember much, all we got were assurances from the EC that everything was under control.


The next day, members were eager to know the outcome of our meeting and all we had for them was that "everything was under control". It was about a week to the end of the registration exercise when one radical member of my group "Odafe" who before this time respected me a lot, but had no time for respect anymore as his money was now top priority, began to display and call for rebellion. As usual, I was calm about the whole thing at the time, but Odafe was beginning to take his grievances too far. Addressing the assembly of my members: "I have assured you guys that your money will be paid in lump sum, you just have to trust me. We have guarantees from the State Coordinator", I said. Some believed, others didn't. Oh well, this was normal. I got solidarity calls & vote of confidence from those who truely believed that I was not the type to decieve them, but in my heart of hearts I was praying that I shouldn't get beat up if this whole thing goes south.


Odafe wouldn't stop. He had arranged for an interview with Stv PortHarcourt and they gladly agreed to have him and the other "rebels". I was in my lodge when my phone rang, it was a call from my L.I., super tensed about what was going on. Minutes later, another call from my Z.I. revealing that I may be in serious trouble with the State Coordinator, as I was in-charge of the area in question. Wahala! I was eventually surmoned to explain my own side of the story, which I gladly did. The worst that could happen to me in punishment at the time was either outright expulsion or another extra year to serve my fatherland.


I was eventually vindicated, as not being irresponsible and complascent. One week seemed like one year, pheeww... Finally, it was all over.


Odafe and his gang were also let off the hook, even though in our dos & don'ts at the time, Corpers were prohibited from speaking to the press. Odafe's effort paid off, as the press coverage of the events compelled the State Coordinator to release all monies without holding back.

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