INEC ad hoc staff threaten protest over unpaid allowances

Adhoc staff used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the 16 November Ondo State governorship election have complained of non-payment of their allowances vowing to hit the streets if nothing is done to address the matter.

About 17,000 ad hoc staff were deployed for the election after undergoing technical training .

The aggrieved ad hoc staff told journalists on Sunday in Akure that they were yet to receive their allowance more than two weeks after the governorship election.

A few of them who preferred to remain anonymous alleged that INEC had earlier promised to pay them on the day of the exercise, but failed to keep to the promise.

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 to owe them for so long.

The source said: “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. It is sad that INEC is 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 storm the INEC office massively starting from this week.”

Use and dump

Another ad hoc staff, who accused the commission of ‘using and dumping’ them after the election, however, pleaded with the Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and other stakeholders to prevail on INEC in the state to pay them their allowance.

The source 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’m also ready to join the protest if we didn’t receive the money before Tuesday because it’s getting late. It’s over two weeks that the election was conducted. They used and dumped us. I feel INEC has no reason not to pay us,” he said.

INEC reacts

When contacted, Temitope Akanmu, the spokesperson for INEC in Ondo State, however, denied the allegation, saying the commission already commenced payment of allowances 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 institutions.

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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 pocket of challenges that is common with banking errors. The few ones who are yet to receive will get them soon I can assure them.

“Even the REC, Oluwatoyin Babalola, is mostly concerned about it, which has to dealing with banking errors. She has instructed that it should be fixed.”