The Osun State Government has firmly rejected claims of a N13.7 billion annual payroll fraud under Governor Ademola Adeleke's administration, insisting that any irregularities stem from the payroll system inherited from the previous All Progressives Congress (APC) government led by former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
In a recent television appearance, Governor Adeleke's spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, clarified that the audited payroll records covered periods largely under the Oyetola administration (primarily 2018 to November 2022).
He emphasized that Governor Adeleke commissioned the audit by Sally Tibbot Limited precisely to investigate and eliminate rumored ghost workers and padded payroll inherited from the prior regime.
Rasheed described the fraud allegations as misplaced, noting that if discrepancies exist, they were perpetrated during the APC's tenure. He pointed out that the governor would not have hired the consultant if there were anything to conceal, and accused the opposition APC of effectively blaming their own former leader for what amounts to a potential multi-year scam.
The controversy arose after Sally Tibbot Limited's CEO, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, alleged on national television that a forensic audit revealed the state paying N13.7 billion yearly to thousands of ghost workers and pensioners who failed biometric verification.
The government countered that post-audit verification showed more than two-thirds of those initially flagged as ghost workers were legitimate employees with proper documentation.
The administration has welcomed probes by anti-corruption bodies like the EFCC and ICPC, reiterating that the audit was initiated by Adeleke to sanitize the civil service.
Officials also highlighted challenges during the exercise, including complaints from verified staff wrongly listed and admissions by the consultant that the payroll system used was untested and unprepared for implementation in Nigeria.
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