The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has rejected the reason given by the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, as the cause of the delay of the March salaries of the government workers in the state.
The State Government in a statement by the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, had attributed the delay in the payment of March salary to the ongoing computation of promotion arrears of civil servants promoted without pay in the last four years.
But Osun APC acting Chairman, Mr Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement on Saturday insisted that the reason given by the government as the cause of the delay was flimsy and untenable, saying it was skillfully fabricated by the governor to deceive the unsuspecting workers.
Lawal, who said the governor has failed in one of his campaign promises to be paying the state workers their salaries latest on the 26th of each month, noted that ex-governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, also paid promotion arrears he inherited.
“How many of such salaries have Adeleke paid that his government has ceased breathing midway like a proverbial smoke? A gentleman’s bond is his words.
“It would be recalled that Adeleke promised heaven and earth during the governorship campaign that he would never exceed the 26th of the month before he pays the workers.”
“The reality on the ground now is that Adeleke has blown on frivolities all the funds that he inherited from his predecessor and those that accrued to his government to the extent that he cannot pay the salaries of the workers again as and when due,” Lawal said.
Reacting, Osun PDP acting chairman, Dr Adekunle Akindele, said APC in the state was financially illiterate, hence its reaction to the state’s finance.
Akindele said workers understood the cause of the delay, as it was meant to serve their interest, “to ensure payment of their long-awaited promotion arrears which the last APC government denied them. They know they will soon start receiving alerts from Monday.
“Workers across the sector are appreciative of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s innovative and shrewd handling of the state’s finance which addresses the basic needs of the people and attends to the critical infrastructural needs of the state.
“After failing for four years to pay the promotion arrears, contributory pensions and the half salary of workers in Osun State, the APC is shamed by the sterling records of Adeleke’s administration which include clearing all the messy legacy of the previous government.
“This explains its unfounded vituperations and false alarm on Osun finance.”
