By Steve Oko

Corps members and other persons who served as Presiding Officers in Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections, have demanded full payment of their feeding allowance from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The affected persons vowed not to leave the premises of INEC office at Adelabu Street Umuahia North, until they are paid their complete money for feeding.

The corps members and other Presiding Officers most of who were lying on mats at the INEC office claimed they were shortchanged by their Supervisory Presiding Officers, SPOs.

According to some of them who spoke with Vanguard, each of them is supposed to be paid N4,000 for feeding but instead of paying them full, most of them were paid N2000.

They vowed not to vacate the INEC office until fully paid.

One of the POs who pleaded anonymity said:” Since yesterday we have been here and slept outside. We did not even bath till now, and instead of paying us our full feeding allowance, they paid us N2000 and said the money had finished.

” Don’t they know many we are in the first place? They cannot shortchange us after suffering since yesterday. We must be paid full because I heard some people were paid N4000.”

Meanwhile, collation of results had begun in the various senatorial and federal constituency centres in Abia State.

At the INEC office at Adelabu Street, Umuahia North, collation of electoral results was on-going when Vanguard visited the area.

Collation Officers from the various Local Government Areas in the zone were coming in in trickles with their results.

But feelers and results from most of the polling units indicate that the Labour Party has been leading the polls.