The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, has dismissed claims circulating on social media and radio broadcasts by individuals alleging non-payment of stipends for work done during the recently concluded Local Government Council Elections in the state.
In a statement on Friday, the Chairman and Chief Electoral Commissioner of RSIEC, Retired Justice Adolphus Enebeli, clarified that all genuinely recruited ad-hoc staff were listed in widely circulated publications, including Rivers State-owned newspapers.
The statement affirmed that all ad-hoc staff, including “Local Government Returning Officers, Ward Returning Officers, Supervisory Presiding Officers, Presiding Officers, and Poll Clerks who served across the 23 Local Government Areas, 319 Wards, and 6,866 Polling Units, have been fully paid”.
However, the Commission noted that some individuals who applied for positions as Assistant Poll Clerks and Poll Monitors but were not enlisted forced their way into polling centers on election day, expecting payment.
It noted that “these individuals, not officially selected or published as ad-hoc staff, are behind the complaints and threats of protest over non-payment”.
RSIEC emphasized that all 14,712 ad-hoc staff genuinely recruited and deployed for the elections have received their payments in full.
The Commission urged the public to disregard the “baseless claims” and maintain peace.
