INEC ad-hoc staff protest against unpaid allowance in Kogi

THE word inconclusive, which found its way into the lexicon of Kogi politics recently during the governorship election seems to be defining many activities in the state as payment for over 13000 ad-hoc staff during the election has remained inconclusive.

The youth corps members and other security operatives who worked during the exercise have been paid but the ad-hoc staff have continued to protest against Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over their unpaid allowances for training and the job they did.

Muhammed Ibrahim who worked in Lokoja local government Ward D said for three days of training no sachet water was offered for them to drink.
“We were not paid anything for the training and yet they have withheld our allowances”. Ibrahim who served in 2008 had not gotten any job yet hence the decision to engage in the ad-hoc staff job.
“I feel very bad, describing the action of the INEC officials which appears to be high level corruption especially in Kogi INEC,” he alleged.

He said those that worked in Bayelsa have been paid and yet theirs have been withheld for upward of six weeks.
“The coppers, the police have been paid and because we are ad-hoc who are not in service they believe they can treat us the way they like.

Thirteen thousand ad-hoc staff recruited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the November 21, 2015 governorship election in Kogi state took to the streets of Lokoja in protest over refusal by the commission to pay them N22.75m as allowance two months after the exercise.

The protesters pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to use his good office to impress it on the Commission to pay them the total sum of N22.75m representing N17, 500 for each person.
The INEC ad-hoc staff said they gave out their best across the 21 local government areas of the state for the success of the exercise and so should not be abandoned by the government.

The protesters who marched through the major streets of Lokoja expressed their displeasure with the INEC management for allegedly trying to divert their entitlement since the conclusion of the November 21 election.
They were particularly asking for the payment of their N17, 500 each being the fee for their participation in the governorship election exercise.

Speaking to newsmen the chairman of the group Mr. Yusuf Bello and secretary John Okpanachi noted that they have to take to the streets to press home their legitimate demand for the payment after all entreaties failed.

We were recruited for the November 21st, 2015 governorship election and were promised to be paid N17, 500 each but unfortunately after the election the management has been telling stories over the payment.
“We have written to INEC headquarters in Abuja without favorable reply. We have sent our appeal to notable Nigerians to help us in this regard but to no avail.”

They explained further that the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mr. Halilu Pai has been avoiding them. “There was a day he asked us to supply our bank account numbers which we did”
“Up till now which is almost two whole months after the exercise Pai has refused to pay us,” they lamented.

They alleged that they have information that the INEC headquarters had released the money but that “the REC decided to sit on it just to punish us because we are no body.”

According to the protesters, the REC was in the habit of not paying the ad-hoc staff whenever they were recruited for any assignment, claiming that the same Pai would not hesitate to pay the returning officers.

The protesters were seen carrying placards with inscriptions such as: ‘INEC pay us our allowances’, ‘Bayelsa staff have been paid, what is responsible for our predicament’, ‘No to corruption in INEC’ and so on.
The aggrieved staff however commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his anti-corruption crusade at high places equally appealed to him to intervene in their predicament in order to safe them from the hardship facing them.

They expressed optimism that Buhari will bring to book whoever is trying to steal their money.
Efforts made to reach the Resident Electoral Commissioner at the time of going to press was unsuccessful as calls to his line were not picked.