Some ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Plateau State, Wednesday barricaded the entrance of the state office of the commission and staged a protest over the non-payment of their allowances by the electoral body.
The aggrieved ad-hoc staff alleged that INEC authorities in the state had refused to pay their allowances for the February 25, and March 18, gubernatorial elections that they conducted.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Fatima Adam Idris confirmed that nine weeks after the presidential and governorship election over 200 ad-hoc staff from Jos North and a few from Jos South have not been paid their allowance.
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She further alleged that they have been frequenting the INEC head office for the past 9 weeks but all they get is excuses and stories from the commission.
“We have been coming here since the election nine weeks ago but all they tell us is stories. Yesterday we were here and we met with the head of admin and spoke on the phone with the commissioner who assured us of a table payment today May 5, according to him some of the account numbers provided were not correct or recognized by the payment platform thereby making e-payment impossible,” Idris said.
“However, we are now being told by the accountant of INEC that the money has been processed to be paid into our electoral officer (EO) account as of 3 pm yesterday, and the electoral officer will be able to receive it within 24 hours before he can then go to the bank to forward the money to us. Meanwhile, we have contacted our EO and he said he hasn’t received the alert.”
