JOHNSON EYIANGHO
The Nigeria Police Force has said that technical hitches in a new generation bank used by some officers, who participated in the just concluded Osun State governorship election caused delay in payment of their allowances, not the police.
The police said 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.
However, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, explained in a statement on Friday that one of the new generation banks (name withheld), with whom some of the officers accounts were domiciled, reported delays in disbursement due to technical issues.
He said allowances which coverd 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.
Adejobi said the delay in payment of the officers’ allowances was immediately followed up and from all indications, the concerned bank had commenced payments.
‘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 further explained that all complaints with regards to this had been addressed internally and every officer captured for the election duty had been paid.
“This situation is noveau as it has not been experienced in the previous Anambra and Ekiti gubernatorial elections,” he said.
Adejobi said the reports on non-payment of election allowances as widely publicized was misleading and unfounded, and should be disregarded.