Funds Diversion: ‘I Am Not Fighting Gov Abiodun’ – Suspended Ogun LG Chairman, Adebayo

The suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area of the state, Mr Wale Adedayo, has said he is not fighting with the state governor, Dapo Abiodun.

According to him, the governor is not an enemy; instead, he is a friend and an elder brother, but all he wants to achieve with his letter is to make the governor see why the local government should access their funds.

Naija News reported earlier that the Department of State Services (DSS) released Adedayo on Monday after spending three days in their custody.

The secret police invited the council chairman and detained him since last Friday based on a petition written against him that he was making inciting comments that could jeopardize public peace.

This platform reported that Adedayo had accused Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State of diverting statutory Federal Allocation due to the state’s Local Governments in the last two years.

Adedayo also petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), demanding the governor’s investigation over the alleged mismanagement of local government funds.

Speaking to The Punch after his release on Monday, Adebayo apologised to the governor, saying he didn’t mean to embarrass him; he only meant well for the people at the grassroots level.

Adebayo stated, “I am not fighting with Governor Abiodun; he is my friend, he’s my egbon, my senior brother, but my take is if the local governments are doing well, it’s all to the credit of Mr. Governor.

“He is the one people will be talking about, and I gave them ( DSS) the example of the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel between 2003 to 2011. If you go to the 236 wards in the state, you will see the footprints of this government at the grassroots; the people will be saying Daniel did this, he did that, but it was the local government chairmen that did all of these projects yet people till today will be shouting the name of Gbenga Daniel. All of these were made possible because the governor allowed the local governments to have access to their federal allocations.

“So, I said the same thing will be happening if Governor Abiodun allows the local governments to have access to their funds. And then, they came up with the issue of being sponsored. I am 57, and I know what is good for the people; no one is sponsoring me, and they said that I should apologise and do a retraction, but I said no. I said if the governor said that he was embarrassed, I am sorry, but I equally added that if the governor had funded the local governments, all would have been to his credit, I wrote all of this for the DSS.”