The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke and his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola have disagreed over the debt profile of the state.

Oyetola had earlier said he bequeathed N14bn cash to his successor. However, Adeleke has said that Oyetola left N76bn debt for him.

Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed said the N76bn debt was the arrears of salaries and pensions of workers.

Olawale said, “Osun State government has uncovered a monumental debt in salaries, pensions, and insurance commitments incurred by the administration of Mr Gboyega Oyetola amounting to N76 billion.”

But Oyetola’s spokesperson, Ismail Omipidan insisted that the past administration did not owe salary arrears of workers in the state.

“For the umpteenth time, let me place it on record that for four years, we did not owe a dime in payment of salaries, while we made conscious efforts to reduce the backlog of pensions and gratuities we inherited. This also explains why for four years we did not witness any industrial dispute.

“By their figure, what it means is that we owed salaries for close to one year. Is that possible? The Labour Union can also bear testimony to the fact that we never left any salary unpaid in our time, just as we did not take any bank loan for four years,” Omipidan said. (Daily Trust)