Elections: We’re Not Owing Anambra Corps Member Allowances, INEC Reacts

Barely a day after reports broke that corps members who served as ad-hoc staff during the last election in the state are still being owed their allowances, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Anambra State, on Wednesday, has denied the claim.

INEC, Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Awka, Mr. Leo Nkedife, made the denial in a chat with Newsmen in Awka.

Recall that some corps members who worked as ad-hoc staff during the poll, recently staged a protest at the state INEC headquarters, alleging non-payment or incomplete payment of allowances.

But Nkedife revealed that the last batch of the affected corps members were paid last Tuesday.

He, however, explained that corps members that protested were those whose names did not tally with the account details they forwarded to the commission.

He said, “We’ve paid virtually all our ad-hoc staff that participated in the elections. The insignificant few remaining are those who had issues while filling their particulars.

“We assure them that by this time tomorrow, issue of payment of allowance will be a thing of the past.”

Meanwhile, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state has directed corps members insisting they were yet to receive their allowances to forward their names to its secretariat.

The NYSC state Coordinator, Mr. Kehinde Aremu, gave the directive while addressing the affected corps member in Awka.

He added that he will ensure that no corps member that engaged in the electoral duties will be denied his/her allowances.

He, however, warned those deployed but did not report to the polling units or substituted with other persons not to include their names.

Aremu also directed those not affected but had included their names in the list to withdraw their names.

He said, “I’ve asked all local government Inspectors to collate the list of everyone deployed and who worked during the election so I can write them again with strong evidence.

“Let me warn those who were deployed but did not report and those who were deployed but were substituted with some other people not to include their names on that list,” he stated.