The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of refusal to pay the party staff for over a year.
In a statement on Monday the spokesperson of the APC presidential campaign council, Dr. Dele Alake said that it is ‘unconscionable that a political party that has made many grandiose promises to hoodwink Nigerians owes its workers for more than 12 months’.
Alake, who is also the Minister of Solid Minerals, further said that ‘owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on the salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible’.
Breezy News‘ efforts to reach ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi did not succeed. But PREMIUM TIMES reported that ADC denied owing workers salaries, and rather challenged APC to provide evidence.
Alake’s statement continued: ‘It has come to our attention that the National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress, led by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Secretary, has refused and neglected to pay
‘With this development, Nigerians can now see the emptiness and insincerity of those parading themselves as ‘new saviours’.
‘We have clearly stated that ADC leaders and their presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, do not mean well and can do nothing for our country. Their desperation for power is driven by personal aggrandisement and venomous ill will against President Bola Tinubu. A party that cannot pay its cleaners and workforce cannot be entrusted with our country’s affairs.
‘Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s leader and Presidential candidate, has a reputation for owing his employees. While he regularly junkets to the UAE, staff at his Gotel Communication and other businesses also went months without pay and staged protests over unpaid salaries and other benefits.
‘The record of the ADC General Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, on paying workers’ salaries and pensioners in Osun State, where he was a governor for eight years, was abysmal. As governor, he mismanaged the state’s finances to the point that he could not pay workers. His government thus introduced quarter-salary and, at times, half-salary payments. As for pensioners, he abandoned them for more than four years. Many died because they could not afford the basics of life.
‘We are therefore not surprised that ADC, harbouring birds of the same feather, cannot pay its workers’ salaries.
‘We are sounding a warning to Nigerians and working people now: reject ADC. Reject Atiku Abubakar and reject all ADC candidates in the next general elections. They do not have the interest of our country and our people at heart.
‘A party that aspires to govern Nigeria and which cannot be trusted with something as basic as the management of its own affairs and the welfare of its workforce should be rejected by Nigerians’.
In a statement on Monday, Abdullahi described the allegation as false and accused the ruling party of attempting to divert attention from the Tinubu administration’s record.
He said: ‘The ADC categorically rejects this allegation as an irresponsible falsehood, deliberately concocted to mislead Nigerians and distract attention from the monumental failures of the Tinubu administration.
‘If the APC has any credible evidence to support its claims, it should produce it rather than continue to insult Nigerians with fabricated stories masquerading as press statements’.
Abdullahi said the APC should address the rising cost of living, unemployment and insecurity rather than make allegations about the opposition party’s internal affairs.
He accused the ruling party of preparing to campaign for the 2027 elections by attacking its opponents instead of presenting its achievements in government.
‘It is becoming increasingly clear that the APC has decided to run its 2027 campaign on allegations against the opposition rather than achievements of its own.
‘That is what happens when a government has spent years making promises it cannot keep and excuses it cannot defend’, he said.
The ADC did not provide payroll records or other documentary evidence in its statement to substantiate its denial.
