Council Chairman Who Moved Against Dapo Abiodun Faces N100m Probe

Wale Adedayo, the council chairman who wrote to Aremo Olusegun Osoba to prevail on Governor Dapo Abiodun regarding local government funds is facing a N100m probe.

The Association of Supervisory Councilors and other political appointees of Ijebu East Local Government, where he is the chairman, in a joint statement urged ” the State Government and the House of Assembly to set up Committees to look into the spendings of the Local Government since 2001 and know its true financial State.”.

The appointees in a statement signed by Supervisor for Community Development, Hon Folake Adetayo, Supervisor for Agriculture, Hon. Kunle Adesanya, Supervisor for Finance, Hon Jesse Osibanjo and Supervisor for Water and Environment Services, Hon. Fowora Abayomi distanced themselves from Adedayo while pledging support to Governor Abiodun.

“We want to sincerely say we are not in tandem with his actions… It is also note worthy to state emphatically that we are not part of the spurious allegations raised against the Governor of Ogun State ” the appointees stated emphatically on Wednesday.

And went ahead to raise a counter-allegation against Adedayo who is famously known as Babalawo for his strong connection with culture, custom and tradition..

“The Chairman, in his own words, has said in his 2023 Budget Speech that the Ijebu East LG Council received N50 million (fifty million naira) from the state government in 2022 and generated another N50 million as IGR in 2022 totaling N100 million (One hundred million. Whether the allocations were judiciously spent is left for the Chairman, the Head of the Local Government Administration, and the Local Government Treasurer to defend as they are best placed to state the position of things.

“On several occasions, spendings have been carried out without relating with other members of the cabinet Documents of financial transactions and approvals were never given to the Cabinet members as they are always secretly done between the Chairman, the HOLGA and the Treasurer. We Cabinet members have remain figure-heads for long. Though, no charges have been made public, but we urge the State Government and the House of Assembly  to set up Committees to look into the spendings of the Local Government since 2001 and know its true financial State.” the allegations against Adedayo adds a fresh twist to the political conflicts which erupted on Monday, August 28, 2023.

The raging development started with a letter that Adedayo, on behalf of all the twenty local government chairmen, wrote to Osoba who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state ” to convince the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, that the statutory Federal Allocation to Local Governments in Ogun State should be allowed to reach each of them as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution.”

“Since we (Ogun State Local Government Chairmen) got on board in 2021, it has been ZERO Federal Allocation to each local government. The 10% of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, which the Constitution also stipulated should go to the local governments has not been given since Abiodun got into office.” Adedayo who is the Chairman of ijebu-East stated in his letter to Osoba which became public on Monday.

The letter resulted in a political furore that forced an immediate reaction from the state government and the abandonment of Adedayo by his fellow council chairmen.

The Abiodun administration through a statement issued by the Governor’s chief press secretary,  Lekan Adeniran, however, insists that “it had never tampered with local government funds”.

The reaction further added that “funds meant for local governments in the state are being handled by the constitutionally recognised Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC)” and that the state adds to the “to the funds allocated to the local councils to enable them to meet their obligations” rather than take from it.

The other council chairmen in Ogun state also publicly distanced themselves from Adedayo and went to beg the Governor for forgiveness to the point of prostrating and kneeling in genuflection.