JUST IN: INEC Adhoc Staff Threaten To Boycott Governorship Elections, Give Strong Reason

JUST IN: INEC Adhoc Staff Threaten To Boycott Governorship Elections, Give Strong Reason

Some ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Niger State have threatened to boycott the governorship elections on March 11 due to alleged non-payment of their allowances.

According to the disgruntled ad hoc staff who spoke with Daily Nigerian, they have not been paid their training and election allowances for the presidential and national assembly elections held on February 25.

The disgruntled employees expressed regret that, despite the intense stress and threats to their lives, they have yet to receive their full pay.

According to the Daily Nigerian, there was concern that the country’s crippling naira scarcity would affect the payment of those providing logistical services for the commission.

On February 24, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had provided the majority of the cash requested for the election’s smooth conduct.

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Mohammed Enagi, who was assigned to Niger State’s Edati Local Government, described his ordeal, saying he would not participate in the next election until he received his training and election allowances.

“I was posted to Unit 006 Tama, in Gazhe ward, Edati Local Government.

“Right from the INEC office in Edati, we were told that the place we are posted to is the outskirts of the local government.

“We took off after 10 p.m. on Friday and arrived there (Gazhe I) around 1:30 p.m. I never thought I was still within Edati, despite being familiar with a lot of nooks and crannies here. The road is very bad.

“The unit has about 700 registered voters, and more than half were on ground. As a matter of fact that unit was the most populated in the ward. The villagers were not well informed about the use of BVAS, they were not accommodating.

“They threatened us. My ink was not working. I had to devise a means by using the ink of a black pen, which was very hard to squeeze out. I had a dislocation while trying to go to a neighboring unit to get ink with a bike.

“They threatened to beat us if we did not comply with what they wanted,” Mr Enagi said.

Meanwhile, Fatima Isah, an ad hoc staff member who served as Assistant Presiding Officer, stated that she was only paid N9,000 for her election duties.

“I received N9,000 on Friday, we are still expecting the training allowance. we were also given N500 naira as feeding allowance on election,” he said.

However, Hassan Yerima, who was assigned as presiding officer in Sarkin Pawa, Munya Local Government Area, stated that the only money he received from INEC was N500 for feeding.

“I traveled to Minna all the way to the bandit-infested area if Munya, but as I speak, I have not received the training and election duty allowance. We were only given 500 for feeding,” he said.

When contacted, the head of voter education at the INEC office, Minna, Arthur Adzape, said the payments were currently ongoing. He said the delay in payment was as the result of a poor network problem.

He said, “We have so far paid 13 local government. What is causing the delay is the network problem, but hopefully the account department will finish all the payments as soon as possible”.

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