Policemen deployed for Ondo election cry out over unpaid allowances

Police officers deployed for the governorship election in Ondo State have raised the alarm over non-payment of their allowances.

This is coming more than two months after conclusion of the exercise.

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Daily Trust reports that the Police Force had deployed over 30,000 personnel to provide security during the governorship election which took place on October 10.

Our correspondent gathered that the personnel drawn from about 24 states including Ogun State, in two batches spent at least one week in the state for the election duty.

It was, however, gathered that shortly after the election, the personnel on the first batch were paid but about 10,000 officers on the second batch are still expecting their allowance.

An Inspector who spoke with Daily Trust said the development has dampened morale of the affected personnel.

According to him, the allowances vary depending on the rank, but the amount due to personnel is between N40,000 to N120,000.

For instance, in Ogun State, the police officers said none of the personnel, about 300 of them, has been paid.

The police officers added further that two months after the election, the police authority gave an excuse that their account numbers were incorrect ‘‘whereas it is the same accounts they have been using to pay monthly salaries’’.

The source said, “usually, when we go on election duty, they don’t provide accommodation for us. They only carry us there. After one week, they will give the allowances due to each officer.

“But this time around, they paid those in the first batch. But the second batch comprising about 10,000 officers have not been paid. They said there are issues with our account details, whereas it is through the same accounts that police officers receive their monthly salary.

They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to urgently approve payment of the allowances.

When contacted, the Spokesman for the Ogun Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said, “I can’t respond to that question. I wasn’t the one who deployed them.”

Several phone calls were put through to the Force PRO, Frank Mba, but he did not pick up. Also messages sent to him via text and Whatsapp were not responded to as at the time of this report.