By Christopher Oji
As the Comptroller-General of Immigration Service (CG), Idris Isah Jire, is winding up to go for retirement, officials of the Service, who were on election duties, have appealed to him to pay them their election allowances.
The officials have threatened to go on their knees and tell God what to do to Jire and his generation if he fails to pay them the allowance before he leaves office.
The official, who spoke with Daily Sun, said though the service was owing them other allowances, they decided to raise the alarm over the 2023 general elections because they were aware that the money had been released by the Federal Government.
Their Spokesman, Kinda (not real name ), said CG Jire, should pay them their election duties as they suffered for it, “the service is still owing 2019 election duty money, when a new CG came, he didn’t say anything concerning the allowance, so Jire should not go without paying us, because if he leaves, the incoming CG and administration will not like to inherit the debt. That is why we are appealing to him to pay us before he leaves office.
“We suffered during the last election, which was characterised by violence. Some of us cheated death by the whiskers. We used our money to pay for hotel accommodations, we fed ourselves and paid for our transportation fare, yet, they have not paid us our election duty allowance for the February 25 general elections, including the 2019 election allowances.
“Our counterparts in other agencies, who participated in the election duties, have been paid since. Last time, the service Public Relations Officer told us that the money had been paid and that it was left for our individual banks to start transferring money into our accounts. We have been waiting endlessly, but they have not paid us. We are appealing to Jire to pay us our election allowances before he goes.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has directed Jire to hand over to the next senior person on the service. He was to retire in April 2022, but got a tenure extension that expired on April 24, 2023. In a letter to him, dated Monday, April 17, 2023, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, directed him to hand over to the most senior officer in the service.
However, the service Public Relations Officer, Tony Akunneme, in a telephone conversation with Daily Sun last month, assured that the election allowances had been paid, but it was left for the individual banks of the personnel to transfer the money to their accounts.