The dispute between the Osun State Government and Sally Tibbot Limited began after the consulting firm alleged massive fraud in the state’s payroll system.
During an interview, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, claimed that a staff verification exercise conducted by her company uncovered about 15,000 ghost workers and pensioners. She alleged that the findings revealed billions of naira in payroll irregularities and suggested that the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke failed to implement the audit report after it exposed the fraud. Bakrin-Ottun also called for the involvement of anti-corruption agencies to independently investigate the matter.
In response, the state government dismissed the allegations of a ₦13 billion payroll scam, accusing the auditing firm of inflating figures to secure a ₦2 billion commission. In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the government said a verification of the audit report showed that more than two-thirds of those labelled as ghost workers were legitimate staff with proper identification and documentation.
According to the government, a review committee found that out of 8,448 workers declared “unseen,” 8,015 were confirmed as active employees, while 433 were unreachable. Similarly, of 6,713 retirees listed as ghost pensioners, 5,830 were verified and 883 could not be reached. The government argued that the significantly lower number of unverified names reduced the consultant’s commission to about ₦47 million.
Alimi added that Governor Adeleke would welcome investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, maintaining that the administration has nothing to hide. He also clarified that the governor’s elder brother, Deji Adeleke, became involved only after receiving complaints that genuine civil servants were being wrongly classified as ghost workers.
The government further stated that concerns about the consultant’s proposed replacement payroll software, which it said had not been previously tested, contributed to its decision to halt implementation of the report. It has since introduced a homegrown payroll reform system while maintaining its readiness for independent scrutiny.
Efforts to obtain a fresh reaction from Sally Tibbot’s CEO regarding the government’s latest claims were unsuccessful.
