Osun Payroll fraud: Has EFCC developed cold feet?

By Isa Isawade

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has come under pressure to investigate alleged payroll fraud in the Osun State civil service following claims by auditing firm Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited that thousands of ghost workers and pensioners are draining billions from government coffers.

At a press conference on January 9, 2026, the firm’s CEO, Sa’adat Bakrin Ottun, alongside lawyer Jiti Ogunye, alleged that 8,448 ghost workers and 6,713 ghost pensioners were discovered on the state’s payroll, siphoning an estimated ₦1.14 billion monthly.

The firm said its report, submitted to Governor Ademola Adeleke in June 2024, was not implemented, and accused the government of continuing payments to fraudulent accounts.

Further revelations during February 2026 TV interviews granted by the lead consultant and her lawyer suggested that some civil servants were receiving multiple salaries, with one personal bank account allegedly linked to 961 workers. The firm called on the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to intervene.

The Osun State Government swiftly dismissed the allegations. In a January 10 press release, Spokesperson AbdurRasheed Olawale said a re-verification exercise showed that most of those labeled ghost workers were active employees, reducing the disputed figures to 1,316 unverified staff.

Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi accused the consultant of inflating numbers to claim a commission of ₦2 billion, describing the report as a “subtle blackmail.”

The government insisted that only 543 ghost workers and 773 ghost pensioners were identified, and accused the firm of wrongly listing senior officials, academics, and political appointees as fraudulent staff. Alimi welcomed EFCC and ICPC involvement, stressing that the administration has “nothing to hide,” while also warning of possible legal action against the consultant for defamation.

“We will be more than elated if the EFCC and the ICPC can help to identify the ghost workers. So, the call by Sally Tibbot for the involvement of the anti-corruption agencies is most warmly welcome. The governor has nothing to hide especially as the payroll audit in question was between 2018 and Nov. 2023,” the commissioner said.

In another press statement issued on 10 January entitled “Osun Workers set to drag Sally Tibbot Limited to Court for declaring them Ghost Workers”, signed by the commissioner, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the public was informed that: “Osun public servants who were declared ghost workers by Sally Tibbot Limited have resolved to drag the company and the lead consultant to court for soiling and defaming their careers of several decades.

“In multiple reach out to the state government, the workers across various agencies decried the defamation and character assassination the consultant perpetrated by declaring them as ghost workers, vowing to seek redress in court of law.”

But in its response to the Osun government’s claims above, Sally Tibbot published, on 20January 2026, a statement titled “Osun State Payroll Fraud: Sally Tibbot’s Reply to Osun State Government’s Vile Disinformation and Defamation”, where it accused the Osun State Government of deliberately spreading lies to misinform the public. It condemned the government’s statements, describing them as fabrications calculated to mislead readers.

“Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited (Sally Tibbot) rejects and condemns the statements credited to the Osun State Government. The statements and their publications are dishonest, filled with lies and fabrications, and are calculated to mislead the reading public, the people of Osun State, and to pre-empt the anti-corruption agencies that shall be formally called upon to investigate the grand payroll fraud and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“By doubling down on their fraudulent claim that the forensic audit conducted by Sally Tibbot in Osun State for over a year did not establish that there were 8,448 ghost workers who were being paid ₦1,143,076,177.44 monthly, those in charge of the Osun State Government have demonstrated culpability in the payroll fraud. By resorting to brazen lies, forgery, and falsification of documents to cover up the payroll fraud, they have abundantly demonstrated that they are not only complicit in the payroll fraud, but also accessories after the fact,” the consulting firm said in the statement.

The company debunked the government’s claim that some workers were perhaps unavoidably absent during the verification and capturing exercise.

According to the firm, the verification alone took six months, which it said was more than enough time for every worker to show up for capturing.

The company also dismissed the government’s claim of a re-verification as another falsehood, challenging the latter to provide proof—including photographs, video recordings, and data—that it carried out a workers’ verification exercise and a payroll re-audit.

Sally Tibbot concluded: “The Osun State Government has chosen the path of lies, blackmail, defamation of character, vilification, and outright denial of truth in response to the serious issue of payroll fraud in the public service of the state. The shameful stance of the Osun State Government indicates that the payroll fraud discovered by Sally Tibbot is continuing.”

When the CEO appeared on Channels TV along with her lawyer on one side, and Commissioner Alimi representing the state government on the other, on 19 February 2026, she again accused the Adeleke administration of refusing to implement the report because it exposed a huge fraud on the state’s payroll, an assertion Alimi rejected.

Alimi affirmed that the government discarded the report and decided to re-audit because Sally Tibbot’s report was tainted with false claims aimed at dishonestly raising its fees.

The commissioner later appeared on TVC on 25 February 2026, where he was asked by his interviewer why the government asked Sally Tibbot’s CEO to leave with the Automated Payroll Administration System (APAS) built at the behest of Osun State Government and for which the government had paid ₦79 million to her company.

Alimi explained that there was an APAS the current administration inherited from its predecessor called Chams, which had a monthly maintenance cost of about ₦40 million. That was the reason, he said, the government asked Sally Tibbot to build another one.

However, he said, it was later discovered that the consultant “lacked the capacity to install such a system. The platform has never been tested anywhere.”

He added that it was later discovered that there was a World Bank platform “which had been developed in Osun, which will cost just ₦6 million monthly, and which had been abandoned by the administration of Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.”

When asked about the involvement of the governor’s elder brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke (to whom the official document was presented in his living room), in the affairs of the state, Alimi explained that Dr. Adeleke’s involvement was due to information he received from his pastor that the cries of workers wrongly categorised as ghost workers had reached him, and that he wanted the governor’s elder brother to intervene. At the time, Alimi said, Labour in the state was also preparing for a strike over the issue.

This, he said, made Dr. Adeleke demand clarification from the governor, who in turn decided to take the lead consultant with her report to Dr. Adeleke so she could show the businessman the report and provide detailed answers to his questions.

“As he promised in 2022 to be a watchdog for good governance, Dr. Deji intimated the governor of emerging negative reports, and the governor, in a bid to validate the audit report, brought the consultant to Dr. Deji’s residence to prove the validity of her report,” Alimi said.

He added that at the meeting, Dr. Adeleke advised that a review committee made up of representatives from Labour, the government, and the consulting firm be put in place to resolve all grey areas. According to him, the lead consultant agreed to send two representatives but later reneged as the committee commenced its work.

However, Ms. Ottun denied agreeing to such an arrangement. She also debunked the government’s claim that the audit was to cover a period under the stewardship of the preceding Gboyega Oyetola administration between 2022 and 2023. According to her, the mandate given covered a twelve-month period from January to June 2023 and January to June 2024.

The back-and-forth accusations have confounded the citizens of the state and left them uncertain about the fate of their common wealth, which seems imperiled at the moment. Encouragingly, both parties in the fraud saga have publicly called on anti-corruption agencies to intervene. They claimed to have separately written petitions to the EFCC and the ICPC to take charge.

P.M.NEWS tried to reach out to the two parties involved in the dispute to seek answers to a few nagging questions in the messy affair, but neither of them agreed to speak.

We wanted clarification from the Osun State Government regarding the allegation by the consultant that some individuals were receiving multiple salaries monthly. How true is the allegation, and if true, what has the government done to bring such individuals to book? People are also asking why the government waited until 20 February 2026, over fifteen months after receiving the report, and only after Sally Tibbot’s revelation on air, before forwarding a petition to the EFCC. Have the agencies commenced investigations? We also intended to find out the government’s response or intended decision on the consultant’s threat to use the instrumentality of the law to recover her “outstanding fees.”

Calls placed to the governor’s spokesperson, AbdurRasheed Olawale, and the Commissioner for Information Alimi, were neither answered nor returned. Messages sent to them also went unanswered.

Likewise, our efforts to obtain a response from Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited and its lawyer regarding the inclusion of Osun State University’s Vice-Chancellor, professors, and staff in the “ghost workers” category proved unsuccessful. We also wanted to seek clarification on the alleged threat by UNIOSUN staff to jointly institute legal action against the company if it failed to apologise, and whether any of the anti-corruption agencies had acted on the company’s petition. Additionally, we wanted confirmation from the CEO or her lawyer on whether she had carried out her threat to sue the Osun State Government to recover her fees.

The CEO could not be reached, while her lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, declined comment, stating he lacked permission to speak. When asked to provide his client’s active contact line, he ignored the request.

With both parties maintaining curious silence and citizens growing anxious that the matter might be swept under the carpet, we turned to the anti-corruption agencies to hear from them.

The Confidential Secretary to the ICPC Chairman, Mr. Kalu, confirmed the agency had received intelligence on the case. He explained that the petitions department would advise the chairman before any action, after which investigation would commence.

In contrast, the EFCC’s response has been disappointing. A senior officer in the agency repeatedly promised feedback but eventually stopped answering calls and messages. Even an email sent to the agency three weeks ago is yet to be replied to.

Below is the email sent to EFCC on March 14, 2026:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
My name is Isa Isawade, a Nigerian journalist with P.M.NEWS. I am requesting information regarding the recent allegations of payroll fraud involving the Osun State Government.
I am preparing an update report on the matter. Both Sally Tibbot Consulting Limited and the Osun State Government have publicly invited your agency to investigate and establish the facts.
I would like to know whether your agency has commenced an investigation into this allegation and whether the concerned individuals have been invited for questioning.
Thank you for your prompt attention. Nigerians hold your organisation in high regard and look forward to clarity on this matter.
Signed: Isa Isawade

Despite the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act guaranteeing access to such information, EFCC has failed to acknowledge receipt of petitions or respond to legitimate inquiries made on behalf of the people.

Will the anti-graft agencies act with the urgency this case demands and provide answers to the people of Osun, who deserve to know what has happened or may still be happening to their common wealth? Osun citizens wait with bated breath.