The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, has debunked an online media report that the adhoc staff recruited for the February 22, 2025, local government election have not been paid two months after the election.
OSSIEC chairman, Barrister Hashim Abioye, while responding to Journalists enquiry on phone; described the report as one-sided, saying the online platform failed to reach out to the Electoral body for confirmation or otherwise, before publication.
It would be recalled that, preparatory to the February 22 council poll, OSSIEC had recruited ad-hoc staff, including Supervisory Presiding Officers, SPOs, Presiding Officers, POs, Poll Clark, PCs as well as Returning Officers, ROs, to complement the efforts of the permanent staff of the commission, so as to make the conduct of the election easier.
However, an online media platform in a recent report quoted two Ad-hoc staff as claiming that they were in the dark concerning their payment – a claim which the OSSIEC chairman, Barrister Hashim Abioye said was far from the truth.
According to him, All SPOs have been paid while more than half of other categories of Ad-hoc staff have also received their payment, adding that the payment was still ongoing as at the time of filing this report.
“All SPOs have been paid, over 50 percent of other categories have been paid, and as am typing, payment is still ongoing”, he noted.
We have a limited number we can pay per day! That’s how the system has designed! That’s why the payment duration is taking long….but we have been paying…substantial number have received. he added
The OSSIEC chairman therefore admonished newsmen to always observe fairness and balance in their reportage, in accordance with the ethics of journalism.
