Osun: Oyetola dismisses Adeleke’s ₦76 billion debt claims

Osun State’s former Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has denied allegations that his administration left Ademola Adeleke with an N76 billion debt in salary and pension arrears.

Adeleke slams Oyetola over 'lies': Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke’s spokesman, Malam Olawale Rasheed, released a statement on Thursday, December 01, 2022, in Osogbo revealing a massive N76 billion debt in unpaid salaries, pensions, and insurance premiums from the administration of Oyetola.

According to him: the new administration was briefed on the state’s financial situation by Mrs Bimpe Ogunlumade, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance.

He itemised the debts: N29,875,191,128.64 in salary; N45,375,237,693.40 in pension arrears; N554,644,028.97 in group life insurance premiums.

Oyetola earlier bragged of leaving no debts: This news runs counter to Oyetola’s allegation that he had left the new government N14 billion in cash.

However, in a statement released through his spokesman Ismail Omipidan, Oyetola argued that he owed no salary for the four years he was in office.

“This also explains why we did not witness any industrial dispute for four years. 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,” Omipidan stated.

“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."

He added that the pension and gratuity backlog had been reduced thanks to work done by his government.