An Osun State based Civil Society Organization (CSO) under the auspices of Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) has urged President Muhamadu Buhari not to grant bailout fund to Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, over the non-payment of backlogs of salaries.

The group said unless Mr. Aregbesola comes out clean on the judicious use of the N35billion bailout funds earlier issued to the State for the payment of backlogs of salaries and pension due to workers and retirees respectively, the Federal Government should not release any fund.

The group accused Aregbesola of diversion of funds; adding that the large sum of bailout funds to his government have gone into abandoned roads project from which he had collected kick-back from the contractors.

The group advised Buhari to take over the payment of salaries and Pension due of workers and retirees alike in the state, alleging that if any fund released to Aregbesola for the payment of backlog of six to seven-month salaries and pension due to workers and retirees in the state, would be diverted like earlier bailout funds.

The group, also, demanded for the prosecution of Aregbesola for criminally diverting the sum of over N16 billion out of N35 billion bailout funds accrued to the state into the private purse, adding that the action show the insensitivity of Aregbesola’s towards the workers welfare in the State.

The group, equally, condemn the Jacobs Adekomi-led Osun State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for colluding with the Mr. Rauf Aregbesola to mortgage the workers’ welfare for personal and selfish aggrandisement, it urged the workers in the state to use this period to request from Aregbesola what happened to their salaries’ deductions to Pension Contributory Scheme, bank loans and Cooperative Societies, advising the foremost Labour Leader, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu to resign voluntarily as Chairman from the stage managed Osun State’s Revenue Allocation Committee before Aregbesola dragged his hard earned name into the mud for selfish interest.

The CSO, in a May Day messages to Osun State workers, which was signed by its Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman and made available to newsmen on Saturday to commemorate this year 2016 May Day celebration, insisted that if N35billion bailout

funds accrued to the State by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) could be judiciously used for the purpose it was released for, it could have paid the full salaries and pension due of the State workforce and retirees for the period of fifteen (15) months from January 2015 to March 2016, according to the outcome of the September 2015 State government Screening exercise which arrived at N2.32billon monthly for the payment of salaries and pension due.

According to Sulaiman, the sum of N2.32billion covers the salaries of State workforce including Local Government workers, teachers, lecturers, LAUTECHTH workers, Medical Doctors, civil servants, and retirees.

He challenged Aregbesola to come out with the true report of the 2015 screening exercise of the State workforce which was conducted by his government before expending the bailout funds for the payment of salaries for just six months, with the total numbers of ghost workers discovered during the exercise and the name of those officials that responsible for the hanky-panky deal in the State Civil service.

•Photo shows Comrade Adeniyi.