Adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State, who worked during the November 16 governorship election, have threatened to stage a protest over non-payment of their allowance.
Over 17,000 ad hoc staff, who underwent the technical training before the governorship election, were deployed by the electoral body for the recently concluded exercise.
The aggrieved ad hoc staff, who spoke on Sunday in Akure, the state capital, lamented that they had 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 promised to pay them on the day of the exercise.
They explained that the electoral body had promised to pay them less than N20,000 for on the election day.
One of the ad hoc staff, who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), told Daily Trust in a chat that they never expected the electoral body would owe them till present.
“They are yet to pay us our allowance. INEC is not speaking to 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,” she said.
Another ad hoc staff member, who accused the commission of “using and dumping” them after the election, however, pleaded with the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa and other stakeholders to prevail on INEC in the state to pay them their allowance.
He also revealed that other ad hoc staff aggrieved by the non-payment of their allowances were planning to stage a peaceful protest to 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.
When contacted, Dr Temitope Akanmu, the spokesman for INEC in Ondo State, however, denied the allegation of the ad hoc staff.
Akanmu said the commission had commenced payment of allowance to the ad hoc staff that took part in the governorship election.
He said some ad hoc staff were yet to receive their allowance because of the problem associated with their financial institutions.
“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 pockets of challenges that are 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 deal with banking errors. She has instructed that it should be fixed,” he said.
