The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council has accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of owing its workers over 12 months’ salaries.
Dele Alake, spokesperson of the APC campaign council, in a statement on Monday, described the alleged non-payment of salaries as “wicked and reprehensible”.
Alake said the development showed that the ADC and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, could not be trusted to govern the country.
“We find it unconscionable that a political party that has made many grandiose promises to hoodwink Nigerians owes its workers for more than 12 months,” he said.
“Owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on the salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible.”
Alake said the allegation exposed what he described as the “emptiness and insincerity” of those presenting themselves as “new saviours” for the country.
He also accused Atiku of having a history of owing his employees, alleging that staff at Gotel Communication and his other businesses had gone months without pay and staged protests over unpaid salaries and other benefits.
The APC campaign council spokesperson also criticised the records of Rauf Aregbesola, ADC national secretary, on workers’ salaries and pensions during his eight-year tenure as governor of Osun.
He alleged that Aregbesola’s administration introduced quarter-salary and, at times, half-salary payments for workers, while pensioners went unpaid for more than four years.
“We are therefore not surprised that ADC, harbouring birds of the same feather, cannot pay its workers’ salaries,” Alake said.
He called on Nigerians to reject the ADC, Atiku and other candidates of the party in the 2027 general election, alleging that they do not have the interests of the country and its 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,” Alake added.