About 349 councillors who served across the 20 local governments in Ogun State between 2016 and 2019 under the administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun, on Thursday, protested the non-payment of their statutory severance and furniture allowance seven years after leaving office.
The former councilors who protested at the Governor’s Office, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, were armed with placards bearing various messages such as “No more promises, enough of deception, we want payment now”, “We are tired of being neglected, Gov Dapo Abiodun, please help pay our severance”, “Seven years of suffering is enough, pay us now,” among others.
They lamented the untold hardship and the financial crisis they have to endure as a result of the non-payment of their statutory entitlement after serving the government for three years, saying that over 50 of them have died as a result of a lack of financial support to attend to their medical needs.
The former councilors said that they have even heard that the lawmakers who served at the local governments in the state between 2021 and 2024 are about to be paid, hence they have also decided to beg the government to also consider helping with the payment of their long-overdue severance allowance.
Speaking during the protest, Hon Ajoke Isola, a former Councilor representing Igbogila Ward in Yewa North Local Government, said that”These are the councilors that served from 2016 to 2019.
“We served with all diligence and dedication, but we are sad that seven years after leaving government, we have yet to get our severance allowance paid.
“While in office, the government owed us two months’ salaries that are yet to be paid the statutory furniture allowance likewise. The non-payment of these statutory allowances has really exposed a lot of us to avoidable financial crises that have claimed the lives of many of us.
“We are about 349, but about 50 of us have gone. Some were very sick, and because they do not have the finances to cope, they succumbed to such illnesses. We are not here to fight but to plead with our father, the governor, to please rise and help us.
“He should please pay us what is due to us; it is long overdue. We are sincerely on our knees begging the governor to please show us mercy and pay us these statutory entitlements”.
Also speaking, Kayode Olumide, former Ward 14 councilor, Abeokuta South Local Government, said that “We are here to appeal to Gov Abiodun to pay us severance allowance and others like the statutory furniture allowance and the two months salaries that we were also owed while in government.
“We have picked up the information that the severance package for those who served between 2021 and 2024 is being processed, so we are here to appeal to our Gov Abiodun to please help us with the payment.
“We are all APC members, and we are serving the party with dedication. We just plead with the government to show us mercy”.
Another former councilor, Olufemi Biobaku, Ward 11, Totoro, Abeokuta North Local Government, also appealed to Gov Abiodun to put smiles on the faces of the former lawmakers and help pay the outstanding severance allowance.
Biobaku said that “As former councilors, we are here to solicit and demand the payment of our outstanding severance allowance, delayed since 2019. We are appealing to Gov Abiodun to please help us out.
“Many of us are suffering from financial hardship, many have died, and some are battling various medical ailments. We are not sponsored by any politician, we are rather here begging the governor to please help us with the payment, we cannot continue to suffer, we beg the governor to please help us out”.
Reacting to the protest, the Special Adviser to Gov Abiodun on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, said that the councilors did not serve under Gov Abiodun and he may not know why the government that they serve did not deem it fit to pay them, while the Commissioners, the Chairmen of local governments, and others who served within the same period were paid.
Akinmade said that “The right thing for them to do is to engage the government and not be protesting because if the Chairmen, the Commissioners, and others who worked with the same government within the same period were paid, what then happened to them?.
“I will, however, get in contact with the appropriate authorities to know what happened. Maybe there are things that we don’t know. Definitely, if their demands are genuine, the government will look into their demands”.
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