The newly sworn-in governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has reversed the appointments made by his predecessor on July 17, a day after the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC) declared him as the winner of the gubernatorial election held on July 16.
He said the appointments which affected 12,000 staff, 30 permanent secretaries, and four traditional rulers were made by his predecessor and served as a stumbling block to his dispensation.
While Adeleke has constituted a committee to look into the appointment of the traditional leaders, he has warned the appointees not to accept the appointment which was made less than 24 hours before the end of the last administration
The Adeleke’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed in a statement on behalf of the governor said: “We want to put on record that those who accept the appointments should be ready to leave the service whether or not their service tenure has reached the statutory age.
“The occupants will be treated as political appointees who will automatically follow the outgoing governor out of public service from November 28.
“At the same time, those who still want to remain in service of the Osun State Government should decline the Greek gift from the outgoing governor.”
Some have praised the decision of the incumbent governor, and others have criticized the move especially members of the opposition party but the question that begs for an answer is who gains from the appointment?
The last two administrations spanning 12 years governed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun State have been characterized by payment of half salaries or what the government calls “modulated salaries” and there haven’t been any major appointments nor any major employment under the excuse that the state is in debt and have no capacity at the moment.
The state retirees have been calling on the government to pay them their gratuity and despite Gboyega Oyetola claiming to have paid N87bn as a gratuity to pensioners during his campaign for a return to the office, stories of the starving retiree at home paraded Nigeria media wave frequently.
One will wonder why the state in debt with less than enough to pay to its current workers suddenly recruit 12,000 workers weeks into the end of the administration, promoting 30 staff to the permanent secretary. It only shows the previous governor only gave hope which is not enough to last the candlelight at night to the poor masses of Oun state.
In the speech of the new governor, he said: “Mass employments were carried out without budgetary provisions for salary payments for the new employees; even when the state was struggling to pay salaries and deliver other services. Various hurried and criminally backdated contracts were awarded and again without budgetary provisions.
“Appointments of several Obas were hurriedly done without following due process, just to mention a few. All efforts to get the governor to set up a transition committee and submit hand-over notes in line with best practices proved abortive.
“It is therefore my desire to ask for your patience and understanding to give my administration a few weeks to review and sort out all the actions and malicious confusions which the immediate past administration created since July 17, 2022. Those actions were indeed vindictive measures against the people of Osun State for voting them out of office.
