Former aides of ex-governor Ibikunle Amosun have sent an appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State to pay their severance gratuitiesthat were denied them since they left office in 2019.

In a statement, yesterday, representatives of the former special assistants, who served between 2015 and 2019, Gbenga Adekanmbi, Musiliu Oladeinde and Olusola Balogun, said that all efforts to make Abiodun pay the gratuities had failed.

They lamented that the situation had caused them financial, mental and physical trauma.The former political appointees, therefore, urged the governor to consider them in the N5 billion palliatives recently released by him to cushion the consequences of the current hardship on residents, workers and retirees.

Their plight, they said, had been made worse, as most of them could not return to their places of work, which they left to serve the state, noting that this has grave consequences on the upkeep of their families and personal well-being.

They wondered why the state government continues to ignore them despite the formal appeals made in three letters to the governor as well as those sent to the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), the Chief of Staff and the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor.

“We recall the acknowledgement of receipt of our letters and the promise made by the governor to look into our request when he met with our representatives at the Presidential Lodge, Ibara, Abeokuta, on September 1, 2022, ahead of the 2023 elections.

“We know His Excellency as a magnanimous and empathetic leader, who, on the assumption of office, not only retained the thousands of workers employed and the Permanent Secretaries promoted in the twilight of the government of his predecessor but also fulfilled his promise to pensioners,” they said.