Ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who worked in the Ondo guber poll have threatened to stage a demonstration over unpaid allowance.
Daily Sun reports that more than 17,000 ad hoc staff were deployed by INEC for the November 16 election after undergoing technical training.
Airing their grievances on Sunday, the ad hoc staff who spoke in Akure, the state capital disclosed that they had not been paid their allowance two weeks after the exercise.
Some of them who chose to remain anonymous claimed that the electoral body promised that they would be paid on the day of the election.
One of them who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO) shared: “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.”
A second who alleged that INEC used and dumped them appealed to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and stakeholders to prevail on INEC in the state to pay them what they were owed.
According to him, the aggrieved ad hoc staff were planning to stage a protest at the INEC office.
“I’m also ready to join the protest if we don’t receive the money before Tuesday because it’s getting late. It’s over two weeks since the election was conducted. They used and dumped us. I feel INEC has no reason not to pay us,” he stated.
However, the allegation was denied by the spokesman for INEC in Ondo State, Dr Temitope Akanmu, who said INEC had begun payment of allowance to the ad hoc staff that took part in the governorship election.
Akanmu added that those yet to get their payment was due to issues 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.