By Valentine Amanze (with agency reports)
The Governorship and House of Assembly elections in some parts of Lagos State may be marred as a result of agitation among some INEC ad hoc staff over non-payment of allowances.
From Amuwo Odofin to Ikeja and Ogudu areas of the city, the INEC ad hoc staff were seen in groups, some protesting non-payment of their allowances, while others, especially at the Ogudu area of Kosofe Local Government Area, refused to leave the Registration Area Centre (RAC).
While INEC officials attributed the late movement of the ad hoc staff to their polling units to missing batches of ballot papers, the ad hoc staff said they were not ready to deploy because they had not received the allowances.
The ad hoc staff also demanded that they be compensated for the postponement of the elections by one week. They also expressed displeasure for being kept in the dark over the actual amount of money officially approved to be paid to them.
As at 10am, the elections were yet to commence at polling units at Mile 2 Estate in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area as the INEC ad hoc staff in the area vowed not to go out for the exercise until they received their unpaid stipends.
At a Registration Area Centre in Anifowose Primary School in Ikeja, the ad-hoc staff, mostly Corps members, appeared not to be interested in the election duty.
Some of them told our correspondent that some of them noted that apart from the election duty being tedious, they had not received their allowances as earlier promised.
They insisted that they would not leave the RAC until their allowances were paid.
After much agitation, however, the INEC officials were seen sharing some money among the electoral workers, after which they were seen leaving the centre with voting materials for their various Polling Units.
In other parts of the state, similar protests by the ad-hoc staff were reported as well, with the workers insisting that they would not work if they were not paid their allowance of N10,000. In Okota Isolo, voting started by 8:30am and was peaceful with few people seen casting their votes.