The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration of victimising local government workers over their alleged political affiliations.
The party made the allegation in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by its Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi.
In the statement, the APC alleged that the Osun State Local Government Service Commission had inaugurated a committee to investigate council workers suspected of supporting the opposition party during the August 15 governorship election.
According to the party, “the committee is chaired by Tunji Adeleke Jnr, whom it identified as the governor’s nephew and chairman of the Local Government Service Commission.”
The APC claimed that some affected workers had been invited to face an investigative and disciplinary panel at the Local Government Service Commission premises in the state secretariat, Abere, Osun State.
It alleged that some of the workers were instructed to bring their mobile phones to the panel, where the devices were reportedly searched for communications with APC members before and during the election.
The party also alleged that the committee was examining whether some members of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, operated accounts with a certian commercial bank, amid the ongoing dispute over local government funds.
The APC described the alleged actions as inappropriate, saying, “It is inhuman, barbaric, unconstitutional for you to victimise, dehumanise LG workers on their political affiliation.”
According to the party, “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 claimed that workers’ phones and bank alerts were examined, particularly for communications and transactions involving UBA, alleging that the exercise was aimed at identifying employees suspected of supporting the opposition.
The party also alleged that some local government workers had been threatened with dismissal, suspension or other disciplinary measures over their perceived political affiliations.
The APC said the reported examination of workers’ phones and bank alerts raised questions about the distinction between administrative investigations and political surveillance, arguing that voting in Nigeria is conducted through a secret ballot.
“We call on Governor Adeleke to reactivate the accounts of local government workers whose salary payment accounts had allegedly been deactivated and disband what it described as the “obnoxious committee.
“We urge Governor Adeleke to immediately reactivate all the local government staff accounts that have been deactivated for salary payment and put a stop to this sadistic approach to governance,” the statement disclosed.
The allegations come amid a prolonged dispute over the administration and control of Osun’s 30 local government councils, with the state government and APC-backed council officials maintaining opposing positions on the matter.
The spokesperson to the state government, Olawale Rasheed, at the time of going to press has not reacted to the allegations.