Imo Polls: Hitches as Police, INEC Staff are Stranded

There are a strong indications that the Imo State governorship election may not start on schedule in some areas as some ad hoc workers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and operatives of the Nigeria Police have yet to board buses that will convey them to their places of assignment as of 5pm on Friday.

Some of the policemen, who were at the RockView Hotel in the Wetheral area of Owerri, said they were still waiting to get their allowances, noting that it would be difficult to operate without funds.

They noted that some officers who had already boarded the vehicle might have been paid, with one of them saying, “We need to be paid so that we don’t run into financial problems in our places of primary assignment.”

An INEC ad hoc worker, who gave her name as Onyinye, said she came to the RockView Hotel area to board a free bus to where she was expected to work on Saturday.

She told Saturday PUNCH: “I got a hint that free buses will be here. But I got here only to find that those who I will work with have already gone and I am still trying to see how I can make it to where I will work on Saturday.”

Other ad hoc workers were seen running from one bus to another, hoping to board one that would take them to the local government where they would work during the election.

Also, residents were seen making last-minute purchases as businesses would be shut for the better part of Saturday. Some were also boarding buses to where they would vote during the election.

Source: Saturday PUNCH