The Osun State Government has dismissed claims made by Sally Tibbot Limited over a ₦13 billion payroll scam.
Speaking in a statement on Friday, the Commissioner of Information, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, described the allegation as an All Progressives Congress (APC)- sponsored fake news.
The government insisted that there was no ₦13 billion payroll fraud, as verification of the controversial audit report confirmed that more than two-thirds of those declared ghost workers are bona fide staff with full identification and documentation.
Osun State insisted 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.
The statement reads, “If there is Fraud, it is Oyetola’s administration.
“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.”
