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Ad hoc personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State, who participated in the governorship election held on November 16, have expressed their intention to organize a protest due to the non-payment of their allowances.
Naija News understands that no fewer than 17,000 ad hoc staff, who completed technical training before the governorship election, were assigned by the electoral commission for the recently concluded event.
The dissatisfied ad hoc staff, who voiced their concerns on Sunday in Akure, the state capital, expressed frustration that they have not received their allowances more than two weeks after the election.
Several individuals, who chose to remain unnamed, claimed that INEC had assured them of payment on the day of the election.
They indicated that the electoral commission had promised to compensate them with an amount less than N20,000 for their services on election day.
One ad hoc staff member, who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), told Daily Trust during the weekend that they did not anticipate that the electoral body would still owe them at this time.
“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 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 storm the INEC office massively starting from this week,” She said.
Another ad hoc staff member, who alleged that the commission had “used and discarded” them following the election, urged the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and other stakeholders, to intervene with INEC in the state to ensure the payment of their allowances.
Furthermore, he disclosed that other ad hoc staff members dissatisfied with the non-payment of their allowances were organizing 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.
Upon being approached, Dr Temitope Akanmu, the spokesperson for INEC in Ondo State, refuted the claims regarding the ad hoc staff.
Akanmu stated that the commission had initiated the disbursement of allowances to the ad hoc personnel involved in the governorship election.
He further explained that certain ad hoc staff had not yet received their allowances due to issues related to 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 told journalists on Sunday.
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