The Osun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has read with utter amazement the theatrical press conference staged by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) over the phantom claim of a so-called ₦13.7 billion payroll fraud under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
In a statement issued on Friday in Osogbo, the party said the claim was based on what it termed a “deeply disputed audit report” covering a period before the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke assumed office.
The PDP maintained that the staff audit exercise referenced by the APC reportedly covered the period between 2018 and November 2022, when the APC was in control of the state government. It argued that any alleged irregularities within that timeframe should be addressed by those who presided over the payroll system at the time.
Read the full statement;
Ordinarily, the rantings of a rejected opposition would not deserve a response, but we are compelled to set the records straight so that innocent citizens are not misled by the same political actors whose years of maladministration plunged Osun State into financial opacity.
First, the PDP aligns completely with the position already made public by the Osun State Government: the allegation is nothing but an APC-sponsored propaganda built around a deeply disputed audit report whose coverage period predates the assumption of office of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
We understand that the staff audit exercise in question covered the most troubling era of payroll manipulation between 2018 and November 2022, a period dominated largely by the APC administration. Therefore, if truly there were fraudulent payment schedules amounting to over ₦13 billion annually, moral responsibility and explanation must rest squarely at the doorsteps of the APC which superintended the payroll architecture during those years. It is therefore curious that those who presided over the system at the time under review now cry louder than the bereaved.
The PDP states unequivocally that since assuming office, Governor Ademola Adeleke has complied with all financial regulations and strengthened transparency mechanisms in public finance management. In this age of digital payroll systems, Treasury Single Account compliance and the vigilant monitoring framework of federal financial intelligence structures like NFIU, the APC’s claim collapses under the weight of logic.
More instructive is the fact that the governor himself initiated the audit and openly invited investigation by anti-corruption agencies. A government that voluntarily subjects itself to scrutiny cannot logically be the architect of the crime it seeks to uncover.
What we see instead is a senseless opposition attempting to weaponise a disputed consultant report after the same consultant refused to participate in a joint review committee and after thousands of legitimately employed workers, including lecturers and senior officials largely employed under the defeated APC administration, were falsely labelled ghost workers.
The PDP also finds it revealing that the APC has suddenly become the loudest defender of a consultant whose figures crumbled under simple verification. Birds of the same feather, indeed, flock together. The people of Osun can now clearly see the political partnership between a discredited party and a questionable report designed to discredit a performing government.
Let it be stated clearly, Governor Ademola Adeleke and the fraudulent style of governance that defined the APC era are parallel lines that will never meet. The current administration did not and will never engage in underhand dealings capable of crippling the state.
If there is any fraud to be investigated, it is the legacy payroll mess inherited from the past government, the very system now being sanitised through reforms introduced by the Adeleke administration.
We therefore challenge the APC to stop the propaganda and instead present verifiable evidence, if any, to anti-corruption agencies rather than staging media calisthenics.
Osun people are politically enlightened beyond some beer parlour craftings. They understand that the noise of the opposition grows louder whenever transparent governance exposes the rot of the past.
The PDP reiterates its full confidence in Governor Ademola Adeleke’s commitment to accountability and welcomes any credible investigation that will permanently uncover the truth.
