Ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who participated in the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State, have vowed to protest the nonpayment of their allowances by the commission.
According to some of the 17,000 aggrieved ad hoc staff, who lamented their plight in Akure, the state capital, three weeks after the election, they were yet to receive any payment, with the electoral body remaining silent over the delay.
While speaking with newsmen about the development, some of the affected ad hoc staff, who wished to remain anonymous, disclosed that INEC had assured them during one of their training sessions that payment would be made on the day of the exercise, but they did not receive anything.
Speaking on the situation, one of the ad hoc staff, who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), stated:
“They are yet to pay us our allowance. INEC is not speaking with us. They are not giving us a listening ear at all. Many of us are affected, and they are yet to pay.
“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.”
While appealing to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and other stakeholders to come to their rescue by prevailing on INEC to do the needful, they hinted that they would be left with no other option than to protest.
She said, “I’m also ready to join the protest if we don’t receive the money before Tuesday because it’s getting late. They use and dump us. INEC had no reason not to pay us.”
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Dr. Temitope Akanmu, who denied the allegation, stated that the commission had commenced payment of allowances to the ad hoc staff.
According to him, those who are yet to receive their allowance have issues with their financial institutions.
He said, “We have paid the ad hoc staff who worked during the election. But we understand that there are some who 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 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.”
