The Osun State Government has said singer Davido's father, Deji Adeleke, who is also a brother to Governor Ademola Adeleke, was not involved in any matter related to the N13 billion payroll scam allegation.

According to the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the involvement of the governor's brother stemmed from information he received that bona fide civil servants were being declared ghost workers, and he wanted to ensure that no bona fide civil servants were unjustly laid off or dismissed.

"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," he said.

The commissioner said efforts to validate the report reached a crossroads when the consultant's technical team confirmed that the payroll system about to be implemented as a replacement for Chams software has never been tested anywhere, a situation that raised alarm bells for Governor Adeleke and other functionaries.

"The public is invited to note that it was at this point that a proposal was made for a review committee to which the firm agreed, composed of Sally Tibbot and labour union officials, to work out a seamless implementation process that will also address all known loopholes.

"We affirm that the governor's brother was never a party to the entire process except his intervention when it was obvious the staff audit report was already creating challenges capable of distracting delivery of good governance by the governor," he said.

ASA