ADC Has Not Paid Party Staff For Over One Year – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has alleged that the National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Secretary, has refused and neglected to pay party staff for over a year.

The APC council laid the allegation in a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Dele Alake.

The statement noted that a party that has not paid its staff for over one year might treat Nigerian workers the same way if elected in 2027.

It added that the ADC and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, do not mean well for Nigerians, but are only desperate for power.

“It has come to our attention that the National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress, led by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Secretary, has refused and neglected to pay party staff for over a year.

“We find it unconscionable that a political party that has made many grandiose promises to hoodwink Nigerians owes its workers for more than 12 months. Owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on the salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible.

“With this development, Nigerians can now see the emptiness and insincerity of those parading themselves as ‘new saviours’.

“We have clearly stated that ADC leaders and their presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, do not mean well and can do nothing for our country. Their desperation for power is driven by personal aggrandisement and venomous ill will against President Bola Tinubu. A party that cannot pay its cleaners and workforce cannot be entrusted with our country’s affairs.

“Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s leader and Presidential candidate, has a reputation for owing his employees. While he regularly junkets to the UAE, staff at his Gotel Communication and other businesses also went months without pay and staged protests over unpaid salaries and other benefits,” the statement read.

Naija News reports that the APC also claimed that Aregbesola failed to pay workers in Osun State their rightful dues and on time when he was governor.

The ruling party therefore warned Nigerians to reject the ADC and its candidates in the 2027 elections.

“The record of the ADC General Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, on paying workers’ salaries and pensioners in Osun State, where he was a governor for 8 years, was abysmal. As governor, he mismanaged the state’s finances to the point that he could not pay workers. His government thus introduced quarter-salary and, at times, half-salary payments. As for pensioners, he abandoned them for more than four years. Many died because they could not afford the basics of life.

“We are therefore not surprised that ADC, harbouring birds of the same feather, cannot pay its workers’ salaries.

We are sounding a warning to Nigerians and working people now: reject ADC. Reject Atiku Abubakar and reject all ADC candidates in the next general elections. They do not have the interest of our country and our people at heart. A party that aspires to govern Nigeria and which cannot be trusted with something as basic as the management of its own affairs and the welfare of its workforce should be rejected by Nigerians,” the APC concluded.