Ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from the 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Lokoja, the state capital over non-payment of their allowances since the conclusion of the November, 21 2015, governorship election.
The protesters who marched through some major streets in Lokoja were demanding for the payment of their N17, 500 being the fee for their participation in the governorship election exercise.
Chairman of the ad hoc staff, Yusuf Bello, and Secretary, John Okpanachi, who spoke with Thisday said they had to take to the streets so as to push for their entitlements.
They said, “We were recruited for the governorship election and were promised to be paid N17, 500, unfortunately, after the election, the INEC management introduced a different angle to the payment.
“We have written to the commission headquarters in Abuja without any positive reply. We have sent our appeal to notable Nigerians to help us in this regard but to no avail.
“In fact the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Halilu Pai, has been avoiding us. There was a day he asked us to summit our bank account numbers, which we did. Up till now, which is almost two months after the exercise, Pai has refused to pay us.
“We were told that the INEC headquarters has released the money but Pai decided to punish us because we are no body.”
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