The Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has described the State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, as a serial and pathological liar for saying that the state government under his watch spent N14.2 billion for the payment of modulated salaries and pensions of workers and retirees with an outstanding of three months, leave bonus to the affected workers and pensioners in less than two weeks, particularly, in the last quarter of December 2016.

The civil group insisted that the government spent only N4.5 billion on modulated pensions and salaries with the leave bonus to the affected retirees and workers, describing the N14.2 billion figures rolled out on Tuesday by Mr. Aregbesola during the Interdenominational Thanksgiving service as “mere propaganda to cover up the illegal diversion of over N7 billion of N11.744 bilion out of N84 billion Paris Club funds accrued to the State by the Federal Government.”

It stated that it was surprised that the state government under Aregbesola’s watch “could be lying before men of God during the Thanksgiving Service for the commencement of official governance of the state in 2017," saying that this singular action of Aregbesola has told “the good people of the state what they should be expecting in the year 2017 as governance style of the state would be laced with propaganda and lies.” He said that upon the various funds received in the last six months, the state government under Aregbesola still owing the workers and retirees alike to the tune of eight to 10 months arrears of salaries and pensions with gratuities.

Responding to the Aregbesola’s thanksgiving assertion, in a statement signed by the group’s Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, which on Thursday, disclosed that the Governor lacked moral and financial justification to spend N14.2 billion on payment of four months half salaries when the state government would have used only N2.3 billion for the monthly payment of full salaries and pensions.

According to the statement, the group explained that Mr. Aregbesola has been working in contrary to the Biblical and Quranic injunctions of Deuteronomy Chapter 24 vrs 14 and Suratul Nahli 16 vrs 90 -91, Suratul Sariyathi 51 vrs 8-11 & Suratul Maidah 5 vrs 51-52 and as well provisions of section 14,15,16,17, &210 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the plight of the state workforce and retirees alike.

The statement urged the workers and retirees alike and by extension, the good people of Osun state, not to be deceived by the misleading figures of the government to pay modulated half salaries of four months with N14.2 billion, after having the Ecological funds, Budget Support funds, Local Government funds, N3.5 billion Bailout funds balance, State Allocations accrued to the State from the Federation Account and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the state treasury in the last six months.

It therefore insisted that the state government had enough funds to clear the eight to 10 months outstanding salaries and pensions without further delaying, challenging the government to come out from its shell to disclose the actual amount of the monthly payment of full salaries and pensions in the state after the conduct of the 2015 screening exercise, adding that the government should also publish how every fund accrued to it from the Federation Account was being spent in order to make the government accountable to the mass of our people as being demanded by the ethos of democracy and international best practices.

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