No fewer than 17,000 ad-hoc staff employed by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State, on Sunday, alleged the commission of not paying their allowances.

The workers who expressed their grievances against INEC were deployed by the electoral body for the exercise after they had undergone technical training.

One of them, who simply identified himself as Ade, alleged that they were earlier promised to be paid shortly after the exercise, but they had not been paid up till the time of filing this report.

?They are yet to pay us our allowance. As I speak with you now, 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. Sadly, INEC has yet to fulfill its promise of paying us.

?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 storm the INEC office massively starting this week,? he stated.

Another ad-hoc worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, appealed to the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu to intervene in the matter and ensure the payments are made.

He said, ?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.?

Reacting to this, INEC?s spokesman in the state, Dr Temitope Akanmu denied the allegation, saying the commission had commenced the payment of allowances to the ad-hoc staff who took part in the governorship election.

According to him, the delay in the payments of some of the ad-hoc staff was a result of the problems with their financial institutions.

Akanmu explained that, ?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.

?So, what we have is just a pocket of challenges that is common with banking errors. The few ones who are yet to receive them will get them soon, I can assure them. The REC, Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola, is mostly concerned about it, which has to deal with banking errors. She has instructed that it be fixed.? (Courtesy, excluding headline, The PUNCH)

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