The Osun State Government has accused the Chief Executive Officer of Sally Tibbot, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, of unlawfully recording and circulating a telephone conversation involving Governor Ademola Adeleke’s Chief of Staff, Kazeem Akinleye.
The allegation was made on Wednesday by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, in a statement obtained in Osogbo.
Rasheed defended Akinleye’s actions during the re-verification of the initial payroll audit conducted by Sally Tibbot for the state government.
According to Rasheed, Bakrin-Ottun aired a voice recording during a TVC programme and on social media in which a male voice, purportedly Akinleye’s, was heard in an angry exchange over the implementation of her firm’s payroll audit findings.
Rasheed alleged that the recording was made and circulated without authorisation, with the intent to malign the Chief of Staff.
“In her obsession with the Chief of Staff, the consultant has violated the law by recording and circulating calls without authorisation and by sharing the same on national television.
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That is a grave breach of cybercrime and data laws. She will soon receive court papers,” he said.
He further explained that Akinleye acted within his responsibility as a gatekeeper to the governor by resisting an audit report that could have “defrauded the state and destroyed the careers of hundreds of legitimate workers labelled as ghost workers.”
Rasheed added that the governor and his Chief of Staff upheld due process, the rule of law, labour regulations, and anti-corruption statutes in handling the payroll verification.
“The matter is now before anti-graft agencies. If the consultant has any additional details, she should submit them to investigators instead of going from one media station to another,” he said.
The dispute arises from a disagreement between the Adeleke administration and Sally Tibbot over the refusal to implement the payroll audit report, with the consultant alleging that the government covered up a multi-billion naira fraud, a claim the state government has rejected.