The Government of Osun State has again refuted allegations of N13 billion payroll scam by Sally Tibbot limited, describing the renewal of the allegation as an All Progressives Congress (APC) sponsored fake news.
The State governmrent insisted that there was no N13 billion naira payroll fraud as verification of the controversial audit report confirmed that more than two third of those declared ghost workers are bonafide staff with full identification and documentation.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday, the state government, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi and made available to journalists in Osogbo, declared for the second time that Governor Ademola Adeleke is open to the investigation of the staff audit report by anti-corruption agencies as he was the actual initiator of the audit project in the first place.
According to the government, if there is any fraud in the said report the former Governor of the state led administration should be held responsible.
“We submit that Governor Adeleke hired the consultant to probe reports and rumours of padded payroll inherited from the Gboyega Oyetola administration.
“If there is any fraud, it is not that of Governor Adeleke but that of former Governor Oyetola as the audited payroll was inherited from the Oyetola administration.
“We inform the public that the governor will be happy if 15,000 ghost workers can truly be fished out.
“This was the reason why the Governor initially insisted against all odds that the audit report must be fully implemented before credible loopholes were discovered in the report.
“As of now, the Governor will be more than elated if the EFCC and the ICPC can help to identify the ghost workers. So the call by Sally Tibbot for the involvement of the anti-corruption agencies is most warmly welcome.
“The governor has nothing to hide especially as the payroll audit in question was between 2018 to November 2023.”
The government further noted that the involvement of Dr deji was a result of information he received that bonafide civil servants were being declared as ghost workers and he wanted to ensure that no bonafide civil servants were unjustly laid off or dismissed.
“As he promised in 2022 to be a watchdog for good governance, Dr Deji intimated the governor of emerging negative reports and the governor in a bid to validate the audit report brought the consultant to Dr Deji’s residence to prove the validity of her report”.
