The Special Adviser to the Ogun State Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, has asked the Forum of Special Assistants under ex-Governor Ibikunle Amosun to stop playing to the gallery over their unpaid severance allowance and instead asked for compassion from Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Akinmade made this known in a statement on Monday while reacting to a publication where the forum blamed Abiodun for the non-payment of their severance allowances.
The aides, who served under Amosun between 2015 and 2019, in a statement on Sunday, called on President Bola Tinubu to prevail on Abiodun to pay their outstanding severance gratuity
They claimed that despite writing several letters to plead for the payment of their entitlements since 2019, the governor had done nothing to their request.
Akinmade, however, told the former aides that blaming Abiodun for their woes was a sheer act of blackmail and mischief.
“It has been proven severally without any contradiction by stakeholders and political watchers alike in Ogun State that the greatest distinction between former Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the incumbent, Prince Dapo Abiodun, is simply a penchant for vendetta by Amosun, while Abiodun is compassionate without animosity.
“It is, therefore, unbelievable that some former political appointees, under the auspices of former Special Assistants during Ibikunle Amosun’s administration, could accuse Governor Abiodun of nonpayment of their severance allowances.
“It is obvious that these individuals are either playing to the gallery or being carelessly mischievous, knowing full well that Abiodun, by his nature, orientation and background, would never abuse power, irrespective of who or what is involved, a virtue he has demonstrated many times to the astonishment of many,” Akinmade said.
He said Amosun and not the incumbent governor was responsible for the non-payment of their severance allowances, adding that against the extant law and protocol of civil administration, the former governor paid all his political appointees before leaving office and left his special assistants out of the arrangement.
He added that Abiodun could not pay the former special assistants any severance allowance when their former boss had decided on those he considered entitled.
He, therefore, advised the affected former political appointees to first blame the act of callousness and insensitivity on their former boss after which they can appeal to Abiodun for possible redress on compassionate grounds.
“The fact of the matter is that Ibikunle Amosun, at the point of his exit as the governor of the state and upon recommendation by the then Secretary to the State Government, paid severance allowances to all his commissioners, special advisers and senior special assistants, against protocol and extant law, and deliberately left his special assistants out of this arrangement.
“As it stands, the best this Forum of Special Assistants can do is to call out their former boss for this horrible act of callous exclusion, and passionately appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun for consideration on compassionate ground to graciously right the wrong of the ugly past,” he said.
