The Osun State Accountant General, Mr. Olalere Rasheed Alabi may have avoided former Governor, Gboyega Oyetola in the last one week of his administration to avoid some payment directives from the Governor.
NPO Reports gathered that the Accountant General declined to take telephones calls placed to him personally by the Governor till the last working day and avoided seeing him till Sunday, November 26, 2022, which was the last day of the Governor in office.
Oyetola had lost election to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who will be sworn in today Sunday, November 27.
The Accountant General was said to have avoided the Governor to avoid payment of salaries that would have included some newly recruited and appointed persons who are said to have been ordered to be placed on the payroll of the state.
It was gathered that the incoming governor had reached out to Alabi to be careful of payments that could run the new administration into some financial crisis.
The Governor, according to sources in the Ministry of Finance in Osun, had signed the payment directive since November 23 in order to ensure payment of the salaries before his exit.
However, all calls placed to the Accountant General by senior officials of the Governor’s office were said to have been ignored.
When the officials reported the development to the Governor, he was said to have made several calls himself to the telephone line of the Accountant General whoever declined to response.
NPO Reports gathered that the development compelled the House of Assembly to issue a summon to Alabi to either show up or be issued with a warrant of arrest.
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That too, according to sources, did not yield any result as the Accountant General did not show up till the Governor dissolved his cabinet on Friday, officially marking the end of his four-year tenure.
“The AG did not respond to the Governor’s calls at all. It is sure that no salary will be paid until the new governor resumes after his swearing in on Sunday. I think it was deliberate on the part of the man,” said a source close to the Governor
A member of the House of Assembly who would prefer not to be named also told the NPO Reports that the Accountant General ignored the summon by the House over the same issue.
He said the House if yet to decide to do to the AG when he finally shows up anytime from Monday.
An attempt to confirm the development from Ismail Omipidan, Oyetola’s Chief Press Secretary, failed as at Sunday morning.
While his telephone line indicated it was switched off, a message sent to him was yet to be answered as at the time of filing this report.