The government claimed in a statement released by Kolapo Alimi, Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, that many of the people Sally Tibbot Limited accused of being ghost workers were actually retirees and regular employees. He continued by saying that the company never asked for documentation of their existence nor took payment based on the inflated numbers it provided..

Osun State was allegedly paying ghost workers ₦13,716,914,129.28 a year, according to Sally Tibbot Limited, which was hired by the state government in January 2023 to perform a staff audit.

Additionally, the company designated 8,448 employees to be "ghost retirees," a decision the state government claimed was made without attempting to contact the impacted parties or find out why they were absent.

Only 433 of the 8,448 employees were found to be unreachable, according to the state government, which claims that a re-verification exercise verified that 8,015 of them were current employees.

Adewale Adebayo, the Osun State governorship candidate for the Allied Peoples Movement, responded to the situation by characterizing Governor Ademola Adeleke's defense as confusing and contradictory.

"This response does not clear the government, it exposes it," said Adebayo. The administration has decided to weaponize public servants and place the blame on the very consultants it recruited rather than openly addressing the audit's main conclusions.

He encouraged the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to step in for transparency, and he challenged the state government to reveal all audit reports, re-verification findings, and payroll data.

Adebayo also claimed that the governor's defense was politically motivated and intended to shield ghost workers who would have an impact on the 2026 race for governor.

Governor Ademola Adeleke, meanwhile, applauded the request that the EFCC and ICPC examine the audit report.

The governor stated that the anti-graft agencies were free to examine the audit report and that "what they will be checking and reviewing was the inherited payroll and personnel list from the Oyetola's administration" in a statement released by his spokesperson, Mallam Rasheed Olawale.

He stated that “Our administration did not and has not expanded the personnel and payroll structures inherited from the last administration. Moreover, what was audited was the payroll and personnel structure under Oyetola’s administration.”

Governor Adeleke said he should be commended for rejecting the consultant’s recommendation to lay off legitimate workers for personal gain, stressing that “we stop likely fraud even while pushing to clean up the system”.

Adeleke added, “We therefore welcome the call on the EFCC and the ICPC to review the audit report submitted by Sally Tibbot. Let the Oyetola administration officials braze up for the exercise.”