The All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council has called on Nigerians to reject the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and all candidates of the party in the next general elections over alleged non-payment of staff salaries.
In a press statement issued on Monday, by its Spokesperson, Dele Alake, the council alleged that the National Working Committee of the ADC, led by Senator David Mark as Chairman and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Secretary, has failed to pay party staff for over a year.
The APC campaign council described the development as “unconscionable” and “wicked.”
“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. Owing staff who come to work every day and who rely on the salaries for their daily sustenance is wicked and reprehensible,” the statement said.
According to the council, the alleged non-payment has exposed the “emptiness and insincerity of those parading themselves as ‘new saviours’.”
It said, “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.”
The statement further alleged that Atiku has a history of owing employees in his private businesses, citing Gotel Communication, and that workers had in the past staged protests over unpaid salaries.
It also accused the ADC National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, of poor record in workers’ welfare during his tenure as governor of Osun State, alleging that his administration introduced quarter-salary and half-salary payments and failed to pay pensioners for over four years.
“We are therefore not surprised that ADC, harbouring birds of the same feather, cannot pay its workers’ salaries,” the council said.
The APC campaign council added, “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.”
