Ondo poll: INEC ad-hoc staff threaten protest over unpaid allowances

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff that participated in the November 16, 2024 governorship election in Ondo State, at the weekend, lamented the delay in the payment of their stipends.

The over 17,000 ad-hoc staff, while threatening to protest over the development, said that weeks after the election, they were yet to receive any payment.

The aggrieved ad-hoc staff, who pleaded anonymity, told journalists in Akure, Ondo State capital, that they never expected that the payment would be delayed for long despite assurances that the payment would be received an hour after the election.

One of the ad-hoc staff who served as a Supervisory Presiding Officer, while speaking on the situation, said: “They are yet to pay us our allowance. INEC is not speaking with us. They are not giving us listening ears at all. Many of us are affected, and they are yet to pay.

“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 this week.”

The aggrieved ad-hoc staff, while appealing to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and other stakeholders to prevailing on INEC to do the needful, said that they would be left with no other option than to protest.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Dr Temitope Akanmu, who denied the allegation, said that the commission had commenced payment of allowance to the ad-hoc staff.

According to him, those who are yet to receive their allowances have issues with their financial institution.

“We have paid the ad-hoc staff who worked during the election. But we understand that some 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 a pocket of challenges that is common with banking errors. The few who are yet to receive their allowances will get them soon, I can assure them,” the state INEC PRO stated.

“Even the REC, Oluwatoyin Babalola, is mostly concerned about it. She has instructed that it should be fixed.”