Ogun State local government chairmen on Tuesday prostrated before the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, asking for forgiveness, following a statement by their Ijebu East counterpart, Wale Adedayo, alleging that Abiodun diverted funds meant for the councils.
Adedayo, who had written a letter to former Governor Olusegun Osoba and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over how LG funds were being spent, claimed that the Ogun council areaa were being run on zero allocation due to the joint account being operated by the state and local governments.
This, he said, had made local government chairmen unable to carry out their responsibilities to the people.
He claimed that Abiodun diverted the bail-out and ecological funds meant for the councils.
However, in a meeting yesterday, the council chairmen apologised to the governor and sought his forgiveness.
In a video released by the governor’s media team, the Chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Emilola Gazal, while speaking on behalf of his colleagues, said: “We are here to beg you as a father that you are in this state. Your Excellency, please forgive us. If you don’t forgive us, who do we go to? So, on behalf of all of us, I’m tendering this apology, and in particular, on behalf of Wale Adedayo.”
Thereafter, the council chairmen prostrated before the governor and begged for his forgiveness
Responding, Abiodun said: “I am guided with all the promises I made in the course of my journey to the governor’s office.”
Nevertheless, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, has urged the State House of Assembly to investigate the allegations raised by Adedayo.
Adebutu said he had since 2021 been complaining about the way local government funds were being managed in the State.
“A total amount of N153bn had been diverted and that is why our local governments are in a terrible state,” Adebutu claimed.
However, Governor Abiodun said the allegations were false, adding that he had been augmenting the local government funds coming from the federation account to enable the chairmen to meet their financial obligations to the people.