Answers for Farouk Abbas on Osun State Payroll Crisis - Mallam Olawale Rasheed

As I answer these questions, I take liberty to remind the barrister who asked the questions and the APC family in Osun state that the payroll audited and now a subject of controversy was the payroll of the Oyetola administration, not that of Governor Adeleke. So if there is any N13 billion fraud, it happened under the watch of former governor Oyetola and Bola Oyebamiji, the then finance commissioner.

The APC family and their supporters should also note that instead of N13 billion, the APC family is accusing their own leader of N52 billion naira at the rate of N13 billion naira from 2018 to 2022.

It is important to add that Governor Adeleke had officially written to the anti-graft agencies to investigate the matter. Additionally, those declared ghost workers are already filing for legal action against the consultant.

Above are noteworthy backgrounds and notices.

1. If the Osun Government knew that it had the capacity to conduct a re-verification exercise, why did it engage Sally Tibbot to conduct the initial verification exercise in the first place?

Mallam: Two answers will suffice here. First, re-verification was the consequence of the consultant's declaring bonafide workers like the Vice Chancellor of Osun State University and pensioners like former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola as ghost workers and pensioners. Secondly, the World Bank had helped Osun to develop a payroll system under the former government called SIFMIS which was not used. When the Sally Tibbot payroll system was found not ready for deployment, the Adeleke government fell back on the World Bank supported SIFMIS which has been used to clean up the payroll system.

2. Why did Sally Tibbot first present its report to Dr Deji Adeleke and the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, before presenting it to the State Executive Council?

Mallam: Sally Tibbot did not present a report to Dr Deji. In July 2024, the report was officially presented at the Banquet hall of the Government House. It was widely covered by the media. The photo and video of meeting with Dr Deji followed after the official presentation and it was arranged by the governor following fear over legitimate workers about to be declared ghost workers. Several workers and pensioners affected by the Sally Tibbot report contacted Deji to save them because they are not ghost workers. The governor brought the consultant to Dr Deji's house because as at then the governor was hellbent on implementing the report. At the meeting, the consultant videoed and took pictures without authorisation. It was not a formal meeting. Two things came out of the meeting. First, known government officials and pensioners were listed as ghost workers like the Vice Chancellor and many other state officials. Secondly, the consultant's technical team admitted the payroll software the firm was developing for the state was not ready for deployment. The team also admitted that the system has never been tested anywhere. The governor was alarmed and it was at that point that the issue of a review committee came up and the consultant agreed. In any case, there is no crime in advising your brother in power. It happened in the US and even here in Nigeria.

3. What is the Government’s basis for appointing the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Hon Kazeem Akinleye, as the Chairman of the Action Committee tasked with reviewing and implementing Sally Tibbot’s report? Why was the Commissioner for Finance or the Accountant General, both of whom clearly have the competence for such a sensitive assignment, not appointed?

Mallam: The governor possesses the power and mandate to pick who represents him on any committee. The governor was the main supporter of the consultant because at that point almost all important officials in government have had issues with the consultant. The governor then asked the consultant to nominate two members, two members from the labour movement while the Chief of Staff chaired the committee. There is no law that says the Chief of Staff cannot chair the committee as a trusted aide of the governor. The consultant boycotted the re-verification committee because her report could not stand the test of review.

4. Why has the Osun State Government failed to implement the Automated Payroll Administration System (APAS), which it paid Sally Tibbot about N79,000,000.00 (Seventy-nine million naira) to build? If the Government now believes that Sally Tibbot lacked the competence to build a credible platform, why did it engage Sally Tibbot to build the platform in the first place?

Mallam: As noted above, the governor in good faith, engaged the consultant for the development of a new payroll system. What changed the scenario was the admission by the technical team of the consultant that the system was not ready for deployment. Additionally, they claimed that the system has never been tested anywhere. The governor who was backing the consultant was shocked to hear that the system was not ready and untested despite the assurances the consultant gave. The question then arose as to how you handed the entire government payroll to a system never tested anywhere and which was meant to replace Chams, a global brand in the payment system? The imperative of safeguarding Osun payroll necessitated dropping the untested Sally Tibbott system. The governor then embraced the World Bank supported SIFMIS which is in use in many states of the federation. SIFMIS was already developed under the previous administration but was dumped for Chams. Governor Adeleke only returned Osun to best practices supported by the World Bank.

5. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that one bank account with a BVN Number was receiving the salaries for 962 individuals monthly. Is this correct?

Mallam: This is not correct nor true. The existing practice, which was described as old as Osun state, was for some salaries to be paid through cooperative societies and microfinance banks by the mother bank. So the salaries of multiple people are paid to the microfinance banks which then pay their members who are civil servants. The mother bank paid to microfinance banks , not individual accounts as the consultant alleged. The bottomline is that all those paid through the microfinance banks are bonafide staff. So it was not true that single individuals were paid as alleged. If the firm had attended the re-verification committee, all the matters would have been cleared to her.

6. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that another bank account with a BVN Number was receiving the salaries for 5,616 individuals. Is this correct?

Mallam : As noted above, this is not correct based on the report of the re-verification committee and interviews with workers affected. If both 5 and six are true, they happened under the former Oyetola administration as the Governor Adeleke had since cleaned up the Osun payroll system.

7. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that some individuals were being paid salaries multiple times every month. Is this correct?

Mallam: Not correct as noted above

8. During her interview on Channels TV, the CEO of Sally Tibbot stated that one of the findings in the audit report is that the 12,000 workers who were previously sacked by Governor Ademola Adeleke were only sacked on paper, while their salaries were being drawn illegally. Is this correct?

Mallam: That is not correct as they were even yet to be fully documented as at the time the governor took over in November 2022. This was pure fabrication. The Consultant’s participation in the re- verification exercise would have cleared any lack of understanding on the part of Sally Tibbot.

9. Did the State Executive Council ever debate Sally Tibbot’s report at any of its meetings? What was the outcome of its debate?

Mallam: The report was debated and the facts that many known state officials were declared as ghost workers featured prominently. The Council was worried about adopting an unverified payroll system being developed by the consultant. There was an overwhelming doubt about the correctness of the staff audit and huge support for the re-verification exercise.

10. Why did the Osun State Governor wait until 20 February 2026, over fifteen months after receiving the report, and only after the CEO of Sally Tibbot’s interview with Channels TV, before forwarding a petition to the EFCC?

Mallam: The government had adopted the report of the re-verification committee and launched its implementation especially as the said staff audit was of the past government, not that of Governor Adeleke. The administration was hopeful that the consultant will eventually settle for what is due to her based on the less than 500 workers and pensioners who could not be accounted for instead of the 15,000 plus she was mouthing. When a few weeks ago she issued a press statement on the matter, the governor openly expressed readiness for anti-graft agencies interventions. When she now followed it up with an interview, the governor formalised it by inviting anti-graft agencies. The governor deserves commendation for this.

The above are nothing but the truth and I urge you to read the consultant's report, the report of the re-verification committee as well as the speech by the Osun state university management.