Resident Electoral Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr Joseph Iloh was on Tuesday locked up by staff of the electoral umpire at INEC’s headquarters in Umuahia, Abia State.
He was prevented from leaving office at close of work, by the staff of his office who were demanding the payment of some of their allowances. During the protest, the staff used the staff welfare bus of INEC to block the main gate of INEC office, to prevent Dr Iloh from going home after the end of the day’s work, unless he affected the payment of the said allowances.
According to some of the angry staff who pleaded anonymity, allowances, especially the ones accumulated during the primary elections of political parties held in May and June, were still not paid to them. This was made worse by the fact that the tenure of Dr Iloh as REC is about to end, unless he is re-appointed. “The staff is afraid that we may not be paid those allowances if the tenure of this present REC ends and another person takes over.
So we want to eat the cake when it is still available and warm” an aggrieved INEC staff complained. It was gathered that the Abia REC who watched the actions of his staff from his office window, sent a message to them to calm down but the overture was turned down by the angry staff.
It took the peaceful interventions and explanations of some notable persons before the workers agreed to open the gate to allow the REC go, but with an ultimatum that their allowances must be cleared in few days time.
“We risked our lives during the primary elections yet the stipends we are supposed to receive are still in voicemail. If they will treat us like this during primary, what will happen to us after the main election”, a female staff complained. When contacted, the Public Affairs Officer of INEC in Abia State, Mr Bamidele Oyetunji explained that the issue was an internal matter but had been resolved.
