Collation Officers Threaten to Boycott Polls in Cross River

Collation officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Cross River State have threatened to boycott the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.

The officers who are mainly lecturers, were seen yesterday evening at INEC headquarters in Calabar protesting, saying that except their entitlements for the job they did during the March 28th presidential and National Assembly elections was paid they would have nothing to do with Saturday’s elections.

When journalists sought to know why the lecturers were protesting, none of them agreed to be quoted, but offered explanation to the effect that they have not been paid for the job done during the March 28th elections.

The lecturers also complained that they have not yet been deployed to areas where they are expected to conduct the elections.

“Some places of posting are far flunk and if they don’t know on time, it will be difficult for them to move and get to the destination of assignment on time,” one of the lecturers said.

They said INEC should come out clearly to tell them what they were entitled to and pay them their money without delay.

When contacted, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Dr. Sylvester Ezeani, said the lecturers were impatient as they even staged a walkout while he was addressing them.

He said the lecturers were behaving like students in the manner they were protesting over an issue that could have been amicably resolved.

Ezeani said: “They were undergoing a refresher course preparatory to Saturday’s elections and I was addressing them, thanking them for their cooperation and hard work during the presidential and National Assembly elections when one of them asked a question as to how much they were supposed to be paid as allowances. I told them that the amount was not readily available but that I will get to the office and check it out. They walked away, complaining that something was fishy.”

He gave journalists a copy of the letter signed by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega on April 8, stating the allowances of ad-hoc staff, including collation officers and Supervisory Presiding Officers is N35,000.

The letter indicated that the Returning Officer for the governorship election is expected to collect N150,000 while his State Constituency counterpart will go home with N50,000.

REC said the amount does not include training allowance, which he said was N12,000; accommodation (N20,000); transport and feeding (10,000) and honorarium (N35,000).

“We were supposed to pay them on Friday but because of the e-payment system, we hope they will still get their money as we will submit the schedule the bank tomorrow,” he said.