By Newspot Nigeria News Desk
Osogbo— The Osun State Government has formally invited the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate and authenticate allegations of a padded payroll and the existence of ghost workers within the state’s public service.
In an official letter dated February 2026 and addressed to the Chairman of the ICPC through its Osun State Office, Governor Ademola Adeleke requested the deployment of forensic auditors to independently review two critical documents — the staff audit report submitted by Sally Tibbot Limited and the subsequent report of a state-constituted review committee.
According to the letter issued from the Office of the Governor, the administration inherited widespread allegations of ghost workers and payroll inflation from the previous government led by former Governor Gboyega Oyetola. To address the claims, the Adeleke administration engaged Sally Tibbot Limited to audit the Osun State Government payroll covering the period from 2018 to November 2022.
The audit firm reportedly submitted its findings on June 27, 2024, after which the governor directed full implementation of the report in a bid to eliminate all alleged ghost workers from the payroll system.
However, controversies soon emerged following the audit’s release, particularly after some high-ranking public officials were allegedly listed as ghost workers. In response, the governor constituted a review committee made up of representatives of the audit firm and labour union leaders in the state to reassess the findings.
The governor explained that the invitation to ICPC became necessary to ensure transparency, credibility, and public confidence in the process. He specifically asked the anti-corruption agency to review both the original audit report and the review committee’s report, and to authenticate the correctness or otherwise of the conclusions reached by the review committee in relation to the initial audit.
The letter confirmed that both reports were formally forwarded to the ICPC for independent forensic examination.
Governor Adeleke stated that the request aligns with his administration’s commitment to accountability and due process, and expressed confidence that an impartial investigation by the ICPC would help establish the facts and resolve lingering disputes surrounding the payroll audit exercise.
— Newspot Nigeria
