The Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke and his predecessor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola are currently trading blames over alleged outstanding salaries running into N75bn.
Adeleke in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed early today accused Oyetola’s administration of owning outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities of over N75BN.
Rasheed said the revelation was made by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Bimpe Ogunlumade, while briefing officials of the new administration on the financial status of the state on Thursday.
“The disclosure was contrary to the claim by the former Governor that he left N14bn in cash for the new government among other bogus claims that have now been found to be an outright falsehood.
“The breakdown of the salaries and pension-related liabilities as disclosed by the Permanent Secretary are as follows:
He put salary at N29,875,191,128.64, Pension Arrears: N45,375,237,693.40, and Group Life Assurance Scheme at N554,644,028.97.
Reacting to the statement, media aide to Oyetola, Mr Ismail Omipidan described the allegation as not only outlandish but preposterous.
He also said that the said debt was owed by Senator Ademola Adeleke’s partner and collaborator, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who ruled the state for eight years and left behind over N200 billion debt.
He added his principal apart from the fact he reduced the backlog of pensions and gratuities he inherited, he also repaid N97billion from the debt.
Omipidan said “Our suspicion is that they have gone to dig up the arrears owed by their partner and collaborator, the settlement of which they used to hoodwink some workers ahead of July 16 governorship contest.
“For the umpteempth time, let me place it on record that for four years, we did not owe a dime in payment of salaries, while we made conscious efforts to reduce the backlog of pensions and gratuities we inherited. This also explains why for four years we did not witness any industrial dispute. By their figure, what it means is that we owed salaries for close to one year. Is that possible? The Labour Union can also bear testimony to the fact that we never left any salary unpaid in our time, just as we did not take any bank loan for four years.
“The new Governor and his team want to ride on a populism mantra. Unfortunately, They do not understand the concept and philosophy of populism. That’s why they have resorted to blackmail. On the day of inauguration, the Governor said it would take time for him to pay salaries because he needed to freeze government account to enable him to look at the books. Today, he is saying he frowns at delay in payment of salary. And for November salary, we actually signed off since November 20th. I am sure we are in for more drama.”
