The administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke has been charged by the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of mistreating local government employees due to their purported political ties.
In a statement released on Tuesday and signed by Kola Olabisi, the party’s director of media and information, the accusation was made.
The APC said in the statement that the Osun State Local Government Service Commission had established a committee to look into council employees who might have backed the opposition party in the governorship election on August 15.
The party claims that Tunji Adeleke Jr., the head of the Local Government Service Commission and the nephew of the governor, is in charge of the committee.
According to the APC, certain impacted employees were invited to appear before an investigative and disciplinary panel at the state secretariat’s Local Government Service Commission location in Abere, Osun State.
Some of the employees were allegedly told to bring their cell phones to the panel, where they were allegedly inspected for correspondence with APC members prior to and after the election.
In the midst of the continuing disagreement over local government monies, the party further claimed that the committee was investigating whether certain members of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, or NULGE, had accounts with a particular commercial bank.
“It is inhuman, barbaric, unconstitutional for you to victimise, dehumanise LG workers on their political affiliation,” the APC said, characterising the alleged conduct as improper.
The party claims that “several council workers had reportedly been questioned in Osogbo about their political activities, banking transactions, and whether they voted for the APC in the August 15 governorship election.”
The APC asserted that bank notifications and staff phones were scrutinised, especially for conversations and transactions concerning UBA, and that the purpose of the activity was to find workers who might be sympathising with the opposition.
Additionally, the party claimed that because of their supposed political sympathies, certain local government employees had been threatened with termination, suspension, or other disciplinary actions.
The APC claimed that although voting in Nigeria is done by secret ballot, the alleged inspection of employees’ phones and bank notifications raised concerns about the difference between administrative enquiries and political surveillance.
We demand that Governor Adeleke dissolve what it called the “obnoxious committee” and reopen the accounts of local government employees whose salary payment accounts had purportedly been disabled.
According to the statement, “We urge Governor Adeleke to immediately reactivate all local government staff accounts that have been deactivated for salary payment and put an end to this sadistic approach to governance.”
The accusations coincide with a protracted conflict between the state government and council officials supported by the APC on the management and control of Osun’s thirty local government councils.
As of going to press, Olawale Rasheed, the state government’s spokeswoman, had not responded to the accusations.