The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has asked the Osun State House of Assembly to investigate the alleged usurpation of the Public Service Rules by Governor Ademola Adeleke, in the extension of the service years of the Head of Service, Mr. Ayanleye Aina, by three years.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Adewale Egbedun, CDHR Chairman in Osun State, Comrade Emmanuel Olowu, stated that the action of the governor is an impeachable offence that the parliament should not take with levity.
The rights group said Adeleke’s decision to extend Aina’s years of service after he should have duly retired on January 24, 2024, is still holding his position, while media reports also claim that the state Accountant General, Mr. Rasheed Alabi, who is due to retire in March 2024, may also enjoy the same benefit.
While stressing that the act is not just an impeachable offence, the CDHR in Osun posited that the trend may continue if unchecked, as various career heads and top government officials are banking on the decision to extend Aina and Alabi’s tenure to tender their retirement notices, and further generate controversies in the state civil service.
It therefore demanded the reversal of the extension of service approval for the Head of Service, also purportedly planned for the State Accountant General, although debunked by the government, among others.
The letter titled Osun and the Verdict in the Civil Service reads in part, “The disregard for the public service rule by these top civil servants is not only damaging the revered Civil Service but soiling the beautiful image of the state as laid down by our forefathers. The Governor had approved the extension of the year of service of the HOS, Mr. Samuel Ayanleye Aina, via a letter dated 04/12/2023. But the approval came to public knowledge a month later, with an announcement by the Spokesperson to the Governor on 27/01/2024.
“Extension of the year of service of retired public officers is alien to the Osun Public Service Rule (PSR). It is gradually becoming a norm if not checked. This is promoting subversion of the standard of the Osun Public Service Rule (PSR), Creeping career progression, encouraging corrupt practices, and promoting Nepotism, among other vices. If this is not stopped now, Osun State and the Civil Service will be subjected to a state of misrule. The Head of Service, Mr. Ayanleye Aina, was to retire on January 24, 2024, when he clocked 60 years, while the Accountant General, is due for retirement on 14th March 2024 when he will be attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.
“This is the reason the Accountant General is yet to process and submit his letter of retirement.
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, and 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 you to note that the acceptance of the three-year extension of the Head of Service’s tenure or the plan of the Accountant General and other Permanent Secretaries to accept an extension of year of service is against Section 4 — Serious Misconduct 0304029 (XI), which reflects corruption in the Osun State of Nigeria Public Service Rule.
“We demand that the House of Assembly should Investigate the open disregard to the Public Service Rules by Governor Ademola Adeleke which is an Impeachable offence, the process that led to the EXTENSION OF THE SERVICE YEAR of the Head of Service, why the Accountant General and other Permanent Secretaries whose retirements are less than six months are yet to submit their letter of retirement as stated in the Public Service Rule, that Governor Adeleke should instruct the office of the Head of Service to put his words into mediums of communication within civil service as circular letter to deny any plan to extend the year of Service of the retiring Permanent Secretaries who include the Accountant General,
“The Auditor Generals, Surveyor General, Statistician General and the likes, and that whoever has reached the age of 60 or spent 35 years in service should go on retirement without further delay. For the sake of posterity, the Governor should withdraw (not reduce) the three years extension of service given to the Head of Service, Mr. Ayanleye Aina,” Olowu stressed further.