Kogi governorship election: Adhoc staff in Okene protest non-payment by INEC

By Ismail M. Kabir

Youths in Okene held peaceful protest this morning to demand payment for their payment as INEC adhoc staff in the November 21st Kogi governorship election.

According to the protesters, it is exactly one month today since their participation as registered officials of the election in the state and none of them has received payment from the electoral body.

Cmr. Kabir Omuya, the spokesperson of the group said that while the youth corpers were promptly paid all their entitlements, other adhoc staff mostly Asst. Presiding Officers (APO) 1, 2 and 3 neither got the required training/feeding allowance nor received any payment since the exercise ended.

"We are holding this peaceful protest to demand our payment from the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) as the adhoc staff of the Kogi Governorship election held November 21st.

"It is unfortunate that the commission paid the serving youth corpers among us and ignored others. A lot of us are unemployed university graduates that participated in the exercise only to be abandoned", Kabir said.

He also lamented the preferencial treatment from the commission over the prompt payment of electoral workers in Bayelsa state while ignoring their counterparts in Kogi State, saying that all complains laid at the Okene office of the commission were unattended.

"We have confirmed the payment of our Bayelsa state counterparts but they are not saying anything about us. Several attempts that we made to reach INEC officials in Okene proved abortive as nobody is willing to listen to us.

"This is why we have come out to stage this peaceful protest to convey our grievances to the appropriate quarters". Kabir admitted.

The INEC office in the area was neither opened nor was their officials avaliable to offer useful information to the protesters which informed their decision to march through the town to the palace of the paramount of ruler of the community, HRM Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland.

Ongoing meetings in the palace prevented the protesters from seeing the Ohinoyi however, palace officials advised that a complain letter be submitted to be forwarded to the right quarters.