Corp members from some states of the federation have accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the process of shortlisting ad-hoc staff for the general election.
Some aggrieved corps members also decried the non-payment of their training allowance several days after the completion of the training exercise saying those that were shortlisted for the training ought to have been paid immediately after the training.
The affected corps members expressed dissatisfaction over what they called poor handling of the payment and the shortlist of ad-hoc staff lamenting that the country still operates a corrupt system with some people bribing their ways to be shortlisted to participate in the exercise.
A corps member in Katsina, Quicy Eseosa, while relaying her experience, said, “We were asked to write our names if we were interested. After the selection for training, examination was written. A few persons were selected after the training; they said they would pay them for the training but till now they have not paid.
“They said they would pay alongside the election exercise but how would they pay those who were not shortlisted to work during the election?”
Isreal Balogun, a corps member based in Lagos, expressed dissatisfaction over the handling of the payment as well as the manner by which ad-hoc staff were shortlisted for the poll, saying, “Corruption is indeed a common phenomenon in the country.
“Three-day training was held all over the nation. After we wrote our names indicating our interest to serve as ad-hoc members, a list was pasted and text message was sent to successful candidates. To my greatest surprise, even those that their names didn’t come on the list were also allowed to attend the training class.
“After the training, another list was pasted for successful candidate and on checking the list, so many people that were successful didn’t see their names there again. So many people who didn’t qualify for training found their names on the list. Mind you, all those that were said to be successful for the training underwent a screening exercise.”
Balogun said it was shocking that after the final shortlist, names of some persons appeared more than once. He said, “Some people saw their names three to four times. This indicates that the list has been seriously manipulated. I even heard that some of the INEC staff at Alimosho requested for N5, 000 to shortlist those who are jostling for space.
“Another thing to note is the election training fee; I learnt that some states have paid N4,500 as training fee. Now, many states haven’t paid theirs. Does it mean the training fee would be paid together with the election money?
“What of those that did the training but were not shortlisted for the election exercise; does it mean that they would not be paid for the 3 days training?”
Confirming Balogun’s allegations, corps members who spoke on the condition of anonymity from Bauchi, Niger and Lagos states said they were yet to receive their training allowance from INEC in their states.
Meanwhile, a corp member named Ishaya Lockson has said that the omission by the Commission was deliberately for illicit reasons.
He said, “Gombe is one of the worst states to serve as they have no respect for corps members. They deliberately omitted the names of almost half of those serving in the state capital in order to enlist their own candidates.”
Efforts to reach the INEC spokesperson, Rotimi Oyekanmi, were abortive as calls made to him were not picked and messages sent to him were not picked.
