Some political appointees in Lagos State who served in the government of the former governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to help facilitate the payment of their severance package owed them nine years after service.
The appointees, under the umbrella of Forum of Lagos SSAs and SAs (2007–2015), lamented that for many years now, they have continued to plead with the previous governments to show mercy and pay them their due compensation after serving the state meritoriously, but to no avail.
They said, “As government is a continuum, we believe that the people-loving Governor Sanwo-Olu and the father of the nation, President Tinubu, will hear our cries and console us with our due payment.”
The leadership of the forum told NewMailNG that “we have been appealing to past governments to help us, but nothing has been done. So we plead again with the president and the state governor to show mercy and pay us our severance package. They should consider the devaluation of the naira and the galloping inflation rate, which has now made a mess of the benefits due since 2015.”
The appointees, consisting of Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants, disclosed that they served the state with vigour, love, and dedication between 2007 and 2015.
They attributed the non-payment of their entitlements to the frosty relationship between ex-Governor Fashola and his successor Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who they alleged ignored all appeals by the appointees to pay the severance benefits when he assumed office.
Some of the former Governor Fashola aides, who spoke to our correspondent, said: “Most of us who served in some other establishments before joining the government lost our pensions and other entitlements and had to start all over again.”
“Since then, most of them have been left in the cold and some of us have died without enjoying the benefits after serving the state between four and eight years.
“We are therefore, appealing to the incumbent Governor Sanwo-Olu and our father, President Tinubu (who was also the state governor), to do the needful and help us facilitate the payment of our benefits before the end of his tenure.
“Since government is a continuum, there is no reason the past government would have refused to pay us. We want the governor and the president to use their good offices to ensure that justice is done. God bless them!”
