Committee for the Defence of Human Rights has accused Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke of bastardising the state public service over the alleged extension of the service year of the Head of Service and the Accountant-General of the state against the public service rule and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Osogbo, Osun State Chairman of CDHR, Emmanuel Olowu, expressed deep concern against Adeleke over his alleged continuous disregard of the public service rule by retaining the Head of Service, Samuel Ayanleye Aina and the Accountant General of the State, Rasheed Olalere Alabi, after reaching their individual’s retirement age.
“While Governor Adeleke approved the extension of the service year of the Head of Service via a letter signed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Kazeem Akinleye on 04/12/2023, we have it on good authority that the Governor has also decided to retain the Accountant General.
“We used the word retain putting into consideration the fact that the Accountant General who was to retire on March 14, 2024 has remained in office and continued to perform the AG’s duty, even when there is no approval for his extension of service yet. The Accountant-General is still in the office after retirement.
“The Governor has been acting with impunity; and the House of Assembly is also an accomplice in disregarding the Osun Public Service Rule 2011.
“We chose to cry out loud now to caution Governor Adeleke against setting bad precedence in the public service and the history of Osun State,” Olowu claimed.
The group further accused the State House of Assembly of conniving with the governor to destroy accountability in the public service I’m bid to loot the state treasury.
He said, “CDHR had written the House of Assembly on the 4th of March 2024 on the need to caution Governor Adeleke on the bastardization of the public service, and the need to retrace his step on the planed extension of service year of the Accountant General. But the House of Assembly decided not to act on our letter.
“We also encouraged the Osun State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), through a letter dated March 11, 2024, to stand up against the Governor’s impunity in a letter dated 11th March 2024.
“Members of the press, we want you to note that the Osun State Civil Service is now in free for all and in a state while nepotism and favouritism prevails over competence, extant law and the general public service rule. How could the Accountant-General, who was to retire on Thursday, 14th March 2024 failed to retire and other permanent Secretary who should have dropped their letter of retirement six months to their retirement age have also failed to do so because they are of the assumption that what is good for the HOS and the AG should be good for all senior cadre officers too.
“Members of the press, the act of elongation of service years is gradually becoming a norm in Osun State. We note that there is a grand conspiracy between the Executive and Legislative arms of government to collapse the public service in the bid to continue looting the state treasury.
The beneficiaries of the Governor’s impunity are: Executive Secretary Mr Salawu Olatiloye of the Natural and Mineral Resources; Osun State Head of Service Mr Samuel Ayanleye Aina; Osun State Accountant-General Mr Rasheed Olalere Alabi.
“In spite of our earlier explanation of the implication of subversion of the standard of the Osun Public Service Rule (PSR), among which are, an increase in unemployment, setting of bad precedence, creeping career progression, encouraging corrupt practices and promoting nepotism, the governor has gone ahead with impunity to retain the Accountant General in office after retirement date.
“The Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Osun State Public Service Rule (PSR) remain the instruments to challenge this impunity via all legal means, and we are going to do that. We challenge the Executive and the Legislative arms of the Osun State Government to justify the actions of Governor Ademola Adeleke on the extension of service years of the Civil Servants in the state.”
According to him, “The idea of extending the service year of retiring public officers is a stampede of the Public Service Rule 020810 which states as follows: The compulsory retirement age for all grades shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier; No officer shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier; The provision is without prejudice to prevailing requirements for judicial officers and Academic Staff of Universities who retire at 70 and 65 years respectively.
“We therefore, want everybody here present to note that the acceptance of the three-year extension of the Head of Service’s tenure, and the retaining/extension of the Accountant General’s service year as the case may or the failure of Permanent Secretaries who should have submitted their letters of retirement six months to their retirement age to do so is against Section 4 – Serious Misconduct 0304029 (XI) which reflects corruption in the Osun State of Nigeria Public Service Rule.
We note that the Governor does not have the constitutional power to elongate the tenure of any civil servant.”
CDHR, however, asked Governor Adeleke to apologize to the entire civil service for allegedly acting in aberration against the Public Service Rules 2011 of the State and immediately withdraw the three-year extension of service years given to the Head of Service.
“The tenure of the Accountant General should not be extended; and consequently, the Account General should proceed on his retirement. That the Governor should order all Permanent Secretaries whose retirements are less than six months and who are yet to submit their letter of retirement as stated in the Public Service Rule to commence the process immediately.
Governor Adeleke should instruct the office of the Head of Service to put his words into mediums of communication within civil service as a letter to deny any plan to extend the year of service of the retiring Permanent Secretaries, including Accountant General, Auditor Generals, Surveyor General, Statistician General and the likes.
“That the Governor should pronounce that whoever has reached the age of 60 or spent 35 years in service should go on retirement without further delay.
“Conclusively, we like the world to know that as an organization, we will not relent and we shall fight the Governor’s aberration via all legal means, putting into consideration the effect of this act of stampede of the Public Service Rule,” Idowu said.
Meanwhile, efforts to contact the state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, were not successful as at the time of filing this report.
