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Anambra Poll: Corps Members Withhold Election Results in Ihiala Over Non-Payment Of N3,000 Food Allowance

November 9, 2021

The corps members reportedly held on to the results as a bargaining chip in their demand for the payment of their N3,000 individual food allowances.

Members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) working as ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the supplementary governorship election in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, have threatened not to release result sheets from their polling units. 

The corps members reportedly held on to the results as a bargaining chip in their demand for the payment of their N3,000 individual food allowances.

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According to FIJ report, the angry youths surrounded INEC officials, including the Senior Presiding Officer, at the local government headquarters.

“Carry the results and take them to your houses,” one INEC official told the corps members. “Police will come and arrest you; you will finish the NYSC programme and not get the certificate.”

A female corps member complained of not having transport fare, adding that she was relying on the promised allowance.

INEC on Sunday fixed a date for a supplementary election in the council where the governorship poll did not hold at the weekend. INEC also suspended the collation of results for the governorship election.

Ihiala is the only local government area where elections did not hold out of the 21 council areas in the state.

INEC had on Sunday announced results for 20 out of the 21 local government areas with the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Soludo, winning in 18.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, had announced on Monday that the supplementary election would hold from 10 am to 4 pm on Tuesday.

Also on Sunday, during the collation of results, the collation officer for Ihiala, Ahmadu Umar claimed there was no election in the area.

He said there are 148,407 registered voters in the LGA. 

SaharaReporters had also reported the malfunctioning of the INEC’s Bimodal System machines, BIVAS as well as the tense security situation on Saturday, which affected the turnout and smooth flow of the election.