Nigeria: Police Officers Lament Unpaid Allowances After Anambra Election

Police authorities said that the payment was ongoing.

Police officers deployed for the 8 November Anambra governorship election have expressed outrage over the non-payment of their election duty allowances.

A top police officer who did not want his name mentioned in the story for fear of retribution, told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that the allowances for the officers had not been paid as of Tuesday morning, two days after the election.

The Nigerian Police Force deployed 45,000 officers to the Anambra to forestall a breakdown of law and order during the election. The officers were drawn from various states.

The Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Abayomi Shogunle, said the deployment was necessary to ensure the safety of voters, electoral officials and materials during the exercise.

Anambra election

On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared incumbent Governor Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance the winner of the governorship election.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the exercise was held in 5,720 polling units across the 21 local government areas of the state.

According to the INEC Returning Officer, Edoba Omoregie, Mr Soludo polled 422,664 votes to defeat Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 99,445 votes.

Young Progressives Party candidate, Paul Chukwuma, came third with 37,753 votes, while George Moghalu of the Labour Party came fourth, with 10,576 votes.

Police react

The police in Anambra said that all officers deployed to the state for election duty were already receiving their election duty allowances.

"Payment is ongoing," Tochukwu Ikenga, the spokesperson for the command told PREMIUM TIMES.

"I just received mine this morning. The IG has paid everybody," Mr Ikenga said.

"Nobody will be denied their allowances. Everything is in the system. It's just the network. That's what we are doing at the moment."

Mr Ikenga denied that some officers were detained for protesting the unpaid election duty allowances.

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