…We Will Address Your Concerns – INEC
Two weeks after the conclusion of the governorship election that produced Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the winner, the ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are yet to receive their stipend, Sunday Telegraph reports.
The staff who had undergone the training before the governorship election, and deployed by the electoral body for the recently concluded exercise threatened to protest the unpaid allowance if the electoral umpire refused to pay them before the end of the week.
Over 17,000 ad hoc staff, who spoke with reporters on Sunday in Akure, lamented that they are yet to receive their allowance over two weeks after the governorship election.
Some of them who preferred to remain anonymous alleged that INEC had earlier promised to pay them on the day of the exercise, disclosing that it was ‘a promise yet to be fulfilled.’
They explained that the electoral body had promised to pay them less than N20,000 for the work done on the election day.
One of the ad hoc staff, who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), said they never expected the electoral body would owe them till the present.
Her words “They are yet to pay us our allowance. As I speak with you now. INEC is not speaking with us. They are not giving us listening ears at all. Many of us are affected, and they are yet to pay. Sadly, INEC has yet to fulfil its promise of paying us.
“Those attending to us at the commission’s office are refusing to listen to our plight. We are demanding the payment of our allowance, or we will storm the INEC office massively starting this week.”
Another ad-hoc staff, who accused the commission of ‘using and dumping’ them after the election, however, pleaded with the state Governor Aiyedatiwa, and other stakeholders to prevail on INEC in the state to pay them their allowance.
He also revealed that other ad hoc staff who are aggrieved by the non-payment of their allowances are planning to stage a peaceful protest at the INEC office.
“I am also ready to join the protest if we don’t receive the money before Tuesday because it’s getting late. It’s been over two weeks since the election was conducted. They use and dump us. I feel INEC had no reason not to pay us.”
The spokesman for INEC, Dr Temitope Akanmu denied the allegation of the adhoc staff.
Akanmu said the commission had commenced payment of allowance to the ad-hoc staff that took part in the governorship election.
He noted that those who are yet to receive their allowance were because of the problem associated with their financial institution.
Akanmu said “We have paid the ad hoc staff who worked during the election. But we understand that some have issues with their banks, and we are working with them to resolve whatever problem they might be experiencing.
“So, what we have is just a pocket of challenges that is common with banking errors. The few ones who are yet to receive them will get them soon, I can assure them.
“Even the REC, Oluwatoyin Babalola, is mostly concerned about it, which has to deal with banking errors. She has instructed that it should be fixed.”
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