Ogun councilors suspend LGA chairman who accused Abiodun of withholding federal allocations

Councillors in the Ijebu East local government area of Ogun State on Thursday suspended the council’s chairman, Wale Adedayo, for alleged maladministration and funds mismanagement.

He was suspended by seven members of the Ijebu East LGA’s legislative council for three months after they received petitions on the allegations.

The suspended chairman had been directed to appear before the legislative council at its next sitting on September 14.

In the document released to journalists by the councilors, Adedayo was accused of withdrawing N4 million from the local council’s account for empowerment in 2022.

They also alleged that he wasted N2 million on Iṣẹṣe Day celebrations on August 20, 2022, among others.

The document read: “Another duty tour allowance for the chairman and other top officials’ engagement in Abeokuta to the tune of N250,000, also ratified in June 2023. N426,000 was purportedly spent on the production of a report on the 2020 Jigbo Festival Ijẹbu-East when we were even yet to be elected. Claim of N350,000 for the inauguration of Women in Politics in Ijebu-East in 2022; the money was not released to the group in 2022.

“Entertainment and other logistics expenses during the commissioning of a legislative building at N350,000 on April 18, 2023. Another entertainment on that same commissioning of the legislative building at N295,000 same day, 18th of April 2023. The second N8.2 million was sent from phase 2 of the project (table and the chair for schools) 20 chairs were made with N8.2million.

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“N20 million allocations from the state are nowhere to be found. Another N15 million sent from the state went the same way without any project to show for it. There is also the award of two boreholes at the cost of N1.8 million each totaling N3.6 million in August 2023.

“While he collects N3 million monthly as security votes, he has held on to the N300,000 monthly security vote of the Vice Chairman for about five months. He has refused to pay up despite several interventions and meetings on the issue by the ALGON executive led by Tunde Emiola.”

Adedayo had on August 28 accused the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, of withholding federal allocations due to local councils in the state in the last two years.

In a letter addressed to former Ogun State Governor, Olusegun Osoba, he appealed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain to prevail on Abiodun to release the allocations to the local councils as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

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