A staggering 17,000 ad-hoc staff who worked for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the November 16 Ondo state gubernatorial election are protesting non-payment of their allowances.
The staff, who underwent technical training before being deployed for the exercise, claim they were promised payment shortly after the election, but have yet to receive their dues.
According to one of the affected staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “INEC is not speaking with us, and those attending to us at the commission’s office are refusing to listen to our plight. We are demanding the payment of our allowances, or we will storm the INEC office massively starting this week.”
Another ad-hoc worker appealed to the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to intervene in the matter and ensure the payments are made. “I believe the INEC chairman is not aware of this problem. If he knows, he should intervene because we don’t know why our money is being delayed. The INEC should do something.”
However, INEC’s spokesman in the state, Dr Temitope Akanmu, denied the allegation, stating that the commission had commenced the payment of allowances to the ad-hoc staff.
He attributed the delay in payment to issues with the staff’s 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 problems they might be experiencing.”
