Security personnel protest unpaid duty allowances for Osun poll

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Some personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Fire Service and Nigeria Correctional Service deployed for the August 15 Osun State governorship election are yet to receive their election duty allowances, The PUNCH learnt on Wednesday.

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Checks by The PUNCH revealed that N120,000, paid in two separate deposits of N50,000 and N70,000, was received by personnel deployed from the Osun State command of the Nigeria Police Force as their election duty allowance a few days after the poll.

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The NSCDC officially deployed 10,210 personnel, including armed personnel drawn from the six South-West states, the FCT, Kano, Nasarawa, Kogi and Kaduna commands, among others.

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Findings also indicated that 300 personnel, largely from the Osun command of the Correctional Service, were deployed for election duty during the poll.

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However, the number of personnel deployed by the Immigration Service and Federal Fire Service for the poll could not be immediately ascertained, as reliable sources within the two organisations said those on duty were drawn mainly from their Osun commands.

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The PUNCH further learnt that armed personnel of the NSCDC arrived in the state on Monday, August 10, and were deployed to their various local government areas of operation on Thursday, a day before the poll.

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One of the affected personnel, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to comment officially on the issue, told our correspondent in a telephone interview on Wednesday, “We worked under Deputy Commandant General, Operations, Philip Ayuba, who coordinated our activities during the election.

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“I was posted to one of the local government areas within the Ile-Ife metropolis. I arrived in Osogbo on Monday, August 10. We slept on the premises of a secondary school in Osogbo. They later took us to the Osun Command headquarters on Wednesday. That day, the Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, came around and addressed us.

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“We complained about poor welfare and requested that we should be paid a stipend for feeding. The following morning, before we moved to our various local government areas, we received a cash payment of N30,000 each.

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“I have since returned to my command, and nothing else has been paid to us. It is very discouraging. We worked under very harsh conditions in Osun during the election.”

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Two personnel each from the Osun commands of the Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Correctional Service and Nigeria Immigration Service told The PUNCH that they were yet to receive their election duty allowances.

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Speaking with The PUNCH on the development, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Fire Service, Paul Abraham, asked for time to make enquiries before making an official comment.

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However, the Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Babawale Afolabi, explained that the delay was due to the verification of details submitted by personnel deployed for the poll.

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Afolabi, who said the affected personnel had started receiving their money, called on those yet to be paid to exercise patience.

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“The reason for the late payment was that it took us time to verify the names with the state commandants of the various commands.

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“It was after the verification that we started disbursing. Those who have not been paid should be patient and expect their pay any time now. Everyone who participated in the election exercise will be paid,” Afolabi said.

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When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Jane Osuji, said she was unaware of the complaint and directed our correspondent to the Osun State command PRO of the service, Joel Oyedokun, for further clarification.

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Calls to Oyedokun rang out, and he had not responded to an enquiry sent to him via WhatsApp as of the time of filing this report.

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Efforts to get the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Akinsola Akinlabi, failed.

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Calls to his mobile line did not go through, and he had not responded to messages sent to him via WhatsApp as of Wednesday evening.

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