Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has formally requested an investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) into allegations of a padded payroll within the state civil service.
In a letter dated February 20, 2026, addressed to the ICPC chairman through the commission’s Osogbo office, Adeleke asked the agency to authenticate reports stemming from a staff audit conducted on the state’s payroll.
According to the governor, upon assuming office, his administration inherited claims of ghost workers and payroll irregularities allegedly linked to the tenure of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
The letter stated that the state government engaged an audit firm, Sally Tibbot, to review payroll records covering 2018 to November 2022 in order to assess the integrity of the staff list and verify personnel expenditure. The audit report was submitted on June 27, 2024.
Adeleke said he directed implementation of the firm’s recommendations to eliminate identified irregularities. However, controversy reportedly arose after publication of the findings, particularly when some senior officials were listed among alleged ghost workers.
To address the concerns, the governor constituted a review committee comprising representatives of the audit firm and labour union leaders to re-examine the original findings and resolve disputes.
He has now asked the ICPC to deploy forensic auditors to scrutinize both the initial audit report and the review committee’s findings to determine their accuracy.
Copies of both reports have been forwarded to the commission.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun alleged the existence of a N13.7 billion annual payroll fraud under Adeleke’s administration. The state government denied the allegation, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun described the accusation as misleading and linked it to a disputed audit covering a period before the current administration took office.