Osun election: Bank, not police, delay payment of allowances to some officers – Adejobi

Etim Ekpimah

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Thursday, exonerated the police from withholding the allowances of officers who took part in the Osun State governorship election duty.

Adejobi in a statement he made available to newsmen, noted that the officers scheduled for the election duty had their account details forwarded to the Police Accounts and Budget (PAB) office at the Force Headquarters where payments were prepared and disbursed accordingly.

According to him, the payment of allowances to cover the election duty was disbursed directly into individual accounts from the PAB Office and not through any State Police Command. As such, individuals started receiving payment alerts even before the commencement of the election.

He stated, however, that one of the new generation banks (name withheld), with whom some of the officers’ accounts are domiciled, reported delays in disbursement due to technical issues.

“This was immediately followed up and from all indications, the concerned bank has commenced payments.

“All complaints with regards to this have been addressed internally and every officer captured for the election duty have been paid. This situation is noveau as it has not been experienced in the previous Anambra and Ekiti gubernatorial elections. It is fully the bank’s fault and not that of the Force.

“Officers affected were communicated via SMS and internal memo as to the situation. Continuous complaint on this particular delay in payments which has been addressed amounts to impatience and indiscipline on the part of the affected officers,” he said.

He added that the reports and the news on non-payment of election allowances as widely publicized is misleading and unfounded, and should be disregarded.