Thousands Of Nigerian Policemen On Election Duty In Imo State Lament Unpaid Allowances, Appeal To Inspector-General, Egbetokun
After about a week when they participated in the gubernatorial election in Imo State, thousands of policemen who were deployed for the election are yet to be paid their allowances, SaharaReporters has gathered.
The gubernatorial election was held in the state on Saturday, November 11.
In the poll, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and current governor, Hope Uzodimma polled 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 71,503 votes; and Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP), who secured 64,081 votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But some of the police officers who participated in the election said that thousands of their colleagues are yet to be paid.
The aggrieved policemen claimed they slept in any available police station in the area of deployment and were unable to feed well because of unpaid allowance.
They added that they used their personal funds throughout the poll, with the expectation that they would be refunded.
The officer urged the police authorities not to give any room for foul play, but to ensure that their allowances are paid.
They said the amount due to personnel is between N40,000 and N70,000, depending on the rank.
“Nigerians should help us, policemen posted for special duty to Imo during the election are yet to be paid their allowances. Inspectors are to be paid N70,0000 while those on Sergeant rank downward are to be paid N40,000 but we haven’t paid till now,” one of the affected policemen told SaharaReporters.
“We are calling on the police authorities to pay our allowances and let it not be promise and fail as usual.”
Another policeman said, “They should tell us what’s delaying our allowances; being silent has given room for suspicion that the fund must have been embezzled by some high ranking police officers. We appeal to the IGP to investigate the cause of the delay.”
