A socio-political group, the Osun Democrats for Democracy (ODD), has blamed the withholding of local government allocations by the Federal Government for the non-payment of traditional rulers’ salaries in Osun State.
The group stated this in response to the outcry by the Oloyan of Oyan in Odo-Otin Local Government Area, Oba Kilani Adekeye, who said in a video that the state government has not paid monarchs’ salaries for 7 months.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Osogbo and signed by its Director of Operations and Public Affairs, Adeyefa Adeyemo, the group accused Oba Adekeye of being economical with the truth and displaying partisan bias, saying he twisted the facts about the non-payment of salaries, which it described as a direct consequence of the withholding and diversion of over ₦250 billion in Osun local government allocations by the Federal Government over the last two years.
The group expressed shock at what it described as “brazen lies and misrepresentation of facts by the monarch, whom it alleged was collaborating with the Osun APC Yes/No chairmen, accused of orchestrating the diversion of the local government allocations”.
It said the salaries of traditional rulers are tied to local government allocations, and that the withholding of the allocations by the monarch’s “political allies had halted payments to palaces across the state.”
The ODD defended Governor Adeleke, noting that he had deployed part of the state’s resources to pay the salaries of local government teachers, health workers, local government pensioners and workers at local government secretariats, at a time when some traditional rulers, including Oba Adekeye, were allegedly collaborating with those responsible for withholding the local government allocations, including the five per cent allocation meant for traditional rulers.
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