Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan
The crisis between the Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu and his former Personal Assistant, Hon. Rasaq Olubodun over the unpaid salary of the latter is deepening as the personal assistant accused his former boss as being mischievous and insincere.
Olubodun who made this known through a press statement he distributed to newsmen in Ibadan on Tuesday was reacting to a statement credited to Barrister Shittu over the unpaid salary and allowances. The Minister had reportedly said he is not owing his former aide any salary.
But Olubodun categorically stated in the statement that Shittu owes him 23 months’ salary totaling N10million adding that the minister is misleading the public about information surrounding his benefits.
The minister while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan during the weekend said the aide’s salary was N42, 000 and not N420, 000 as claimed.
It would be recalled that Olubodun worked with Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi when he was in the Senate as Personal Assistant and Special Adviser during his first term in office for four years.
Olubodun said, “Initially, I have decided not join issues with the minister in the media out of respect for some important and influential people and respect for the exalted office of the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, since the minister has decided to dance in the market square by making that statement, probably for image laundering and damage control, I have no choice than to join issues with him on the media at least for the purpose of clarification and putting the record straight before the people of Oyo State which we represent and Nigerians in general”.
The former aide raised six issues on the controversy. These include whether the minister did not pay his salary and allowances from November 2015 to October 2017 or not.
Other were whether his salary and allowances were not appropriated along with that of the minister by the National Assembly for onward payment to him as Personal Assistant and where is the minister keeping the money for the period among others.
Olubodun added that these were the questions the minister would have to answer before a successful “image laundering” and “damage control could be achieved in this “salary scandal”.
He advised the minister to stop embarrassing the people of Oyo State who are very intelligent and politically sophisticated.
He warned that no amount of media statement and postage on social media would solve the problem of “salary scandal” adding that “it can only escalate it and make be more relevant in public domain and discussion”.