I inherited N500bn debt from Aregbesola, Oyetola’s govts — Gov Adeleke

Osun Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, on Thursday, said it inherited a whopping salary, pension and employment-related debt to the tune of 100 billion naira from the two previous governments of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the State.

The governor spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed who dropped the hint in Osogbo while reacting to an Ibadan-based lawyer, Mr. Mutalubi Adebayo, SAN, threatened to drag Governor Ademola Adeleke and the government before court over unpaid allowances of judges working in the state, explained that “this is outside another state debt of over 400 billion naira.

Olawale however hinted that the Adeleke administration has commenced payment of such salary and pension debt amidst cash crunch and equally competing demands for state expenditure.

The legal practitioner had on Thursday given Adeleke a 10-day ultimatum to pay arrears of allowances owed retired and serving judges in the state or face legal action but, Senator Adeleke advised him to avoid “interloping activism”.

According to the governor’s spokesperson, “Adebayo’s action was not only tantamount to “meddlesomeness but misrepresentation and misinterpretation of employment relationship between employees and the employer”.

“The state government, which said while it would not immediately attribute Adebayo’s threat of legal action to politicisation of service matters, reminded the public that the lawyer affirmed that the allowances were owed by Aregbesola/Oyetola administrations.”

The statement read partly, “We can add for him that the Adeleke administration inherited from the two previous governments of the All Progressive Congress a whopping salary, pension and employment related debt to the tune of 100 billion naira”.

“This is outside another state debt of over 400 billion naira. The Adeleke administration has however commenced payment of such salary and pension debt amidst cash crunch and equally competing demands for state expenditure.

“We are constrained to therefore urge the lawyer to avoid distractive and interloping activism. As we believe he is not politically recruited, he should adopt another dignifying route rather than usurping labour dispute question which only the unions and their employers can undertake.

“As we assume the lawyer has good intention, he can rework his threat into an appeal to the State Governor to continue his ongoing phased payment of outstanding liabilities inherited from the previous administrations. He may further commend the Governor for acting for all Osun people by devising strategies to complete abandon projects and gradual payments of outstanding liabilities.”