By Raymond Ozoji, Awka
The Anambra State Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, has said that Governor Chukwuma Soludo is not indebted to appointees of the former governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano.
Obi-Okoye stated this sequel to agitations and threats by former political appointees who served Obiano to work against Soludo’s re-election in 2025 if their severance allowances were not paid accordingly.
Speaking with our correspondent exclusively, Obi-Okoye wondered who the former political appointees were, stating that he could recall that former political appointees who served in the Willie Obiano regime were still serving in the highest Executive Council level of the present administration.
Obi-Okoye, who was also a former appointee of Obiano as the Special Adviser on Political Matters, told our correspondent that he had a long list of former appointees who served in the previous administration and still serving under Soludo’s government.
He mentioned the current Deputy Governor Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, saying that Ibezim was a Special Adviser during former Governor Willie Obiano’s administration.
Others he mentioned were the current Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, who was also the SSG during Obiano’s administration.
He said the current Commissioner for Information Sir Paul Nwosu was an appointee in the last regime.
According to him, the current Commissioners for Transport, Power and Public Utilities, Homeland Security, Women Affairs and Social Welfare and many others were political appointees in the last regime.
On issues of severance allowance, Obi-Okoye maintained that not every category of political appointee was entitled to severance package.
He said those who were by law entitled to severance allowance included Commissioners, Special Advisers and Special Assistants of certain categories.
According to him, EAs and SAs who constitute the bulk of the number by law and by their letters of appointment were not entitled to severance allowances.
He said for those who might claim to be entitled to severance allowance, the question remained who was supposed to pay the money? According to him, if the answer is that the last regime was supposed to pay her appointees severance package, then another pertinent question is why did the Obiano administration not pay her appointees severance allowance?
Obi-Okoye said, “Why was the Chief Executive paid and his appointees were not paid? The bunch of the agitators who had aggregated themselves as Aggrieved Political Appointees were clearly people who had taken a ride with other political parties long before now.”
He said quite a number of them had been working for other political parties and they were not members of APGA at least in the last one year.
He maintained that no responsible government would want to deal with such people, when it was clear that their agitation was sponsored purely for political purpose.
