Anambra State Former Political Appointees (ASFP), a platform for all the political appointees who served under the former governor Willie Obiano from 2014 to 2022 , Tuesday, threatened to abandon the incumbent governor, Chukwuma Soludo and his All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to another political party if he fails to pay their severance allowances within this month.
The appointees, who resolved this at the end of a town hall meeting held at Awka, the Anambra state capital, decried that the governor has failed to acknowledge the services they rendered selflessly, including their commitments towards his emergence as governor in 2021 amidst the then insecurity and oppositions.
According to the appointees, who included former commissioners, Special Advisers (SPAD), Senior Special Assistants (SSAs), Special Assistants (SA) and Executive Assistants (EA), the threats became necessary after various efforts made to broker peace with the governor failed on deaf ears.
Speaking on behalf of the group, the convener ASFP and former SSA to Obiano, Chief Onyeka Owelle Mbaso, said although they had met with necessary stakeholders, including governor Soludo to no avail, they would press on again before they finally join one of many political parties showing interest in paying at least 150% of the severance allowances.
Mbaso, who was the pioneer chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the United Kingdom, recalled that the governor’s comments during their meetings last year showed that he saw their efforts towards his election as insignificant, even as politicians from other political parties had hijacked APGA from the ‘real’ members, and currently administering to crash it.
He, however, urged members to be resolute and faithful as he would continue to reject every attempts to buy him over with either political offers or money until their aims were achieved.