With the Osun State 2026 off-cycle governorship election scheduled for August 8th, 2026, allegations have surfaced about Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate. He is being accused of being the main originator of the half salary policy introduced during Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s tenure as the state’s governor.

The post here, made available by the spokesperson to the state governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, was quoted.

“The recent attempt by the APC and its governorship candidate, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, to parade familiar promises of a “youth-friendly government” is therefore not only hollow; it is insulting. Presenting one of the chief architects of the half-salary era as a youth-friendly candidate is an irrefutably political mockery of the highest order.”

This claim has generated a lot of controversy in the state. We have seen both politicians and citizens keep referring to it here, here, and here.

As part of NDR Factcheck, media and information literacy in respect of good governance reporting, we are investigating whether the candidate of the All Progressives Congress was really the architect of the half-salary era.

Who is Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji?

Bola Oyebanmiji is a technocrat who worked for Wema Bank in the late 80s. He rose to the position of senior executive at Spring Bank, Enterprise Bank, and other financial institutions, where he worked for over 28 years, earning his reputation not by proximity to power but through performance excellence.

How did he get into politics and his appointments so far?

According to our findings, Oyebamiji was first known when the former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, appointed him Managing Director of the Osun State Investment Company in 2012. He led the company’s recapitalisation, resulting in its rebranding as Omoluabi Holdings Limited.

He was later appointed as commissioner for finance, a role he held twice, under both Aregbesola and, later, Gboyega Oyetola. Throughout those years, he became known within government circles as a steady hand.

What Was the “Half-Salary” Policy?

In 2015, the Osun State Government under former Governor Rauf Aregbesola began the payment of half salary to some grade levels of government workers instead of paying full monthly salaries across the board, a strategy it described as necessary to avoid mass retrenchment, manage financial pressure, and sustain recurrent expenditure without crippling the civil service.

Was Oyebamiji really a strong force in the Rauf Aregbesola Cabinet during the Half Salary Era?

According to the finding, after the re-election of Rauf Aregbesola in 2014, he appointed his cabinet in 2017; Bola Oyebamiji replaced Wale Bolunduro as the commissioner for finance. In that capacity, Bola Oyebamiji was a member of the kitchen cabinet in the state. For more clarity in the investigation, a key issue in assessing the claim is timing; we found that the half-salary policy began in 2015, and Bola Oyebamiji became Commissioner for Finance in 2017, nearly two years after the policy had been introduced and implemented.

As the Commissioner for Finance in 2018, he also adopted the modulated salary system in order to address the problem of irregular salary payments. He explained that the policy was also driven by the administration’s commitment to delivering major infrastructure projects, stimulating economic development, and transforming Osogbo into a modern state capital.

While Oyebamiji later became an influential member of the cabinet due to the strategic nature of the finance portfolio, there is no public record indicating that he designed or initiated the half-salary policy.

Conclusion

Available records show that Osun State’s half-salary policy began in 2015, while Bola Oyebamiji became Commissioner for Finance in 2017, nearly two years later. There is no evidence that he initiated or designed the policy. Therefore, the claim that Oyebamiji was the “chief architect” of the half-salary era is not supported by verifiable facts.

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