Ogun Councils Chairmen Plead With Abiodun over Alleged Diversion of Their Statutory Allocations

Ogun State’s Local Government Chairmen, have asked Governor Dapo Abiodun to ignore the petition alleging that he diverted allocation from Federation Account, and other Federal Government’s Interventions, meant for the Local Governments.

The Chairmen, led by Babatunde Emilola-Gazal, visited the Governor on Tuesday night in Abeokuta, to seek for forgiveness over the petition written by the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo.

Adedayo in his petition, forwarded to Chief Olusegun Osoba, had accused the Governor of not remitting monthly statutory allocations, Ecological Fund and Sure-P fund from Federal Government, to the State’s Local Governments.

But the council’s chairmen, at an audience with the Governor on Tuesday, said the petition does not represents their views, positions or thinking, and should be disregarded.

The council chairmen chanting songs to placate the governor, pleaded with him on behalf of Adedayo, and then prostrated before him.

The Governor told them that he always carried out his responsibilities as the governor with every sincerity of purpose.

Earlier yesterday, Ogun State Government has dismissed the allegation that Governor Abiodun was tampering with the allocations of the state’s 20 local governments from the federation account, in the past two years.

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Instead the state government says, it has been augmenting the allocations of the councils, to enable them meet their financial obligations.

It also disbursed fund periodically to the local governments for development projects, while rehabilitating primary schools in their areas.

But the State Government, in a statement, by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Lekan Adeniran said, the allocations from the federation account to the state was being shared and disbursed every month by the state joint allocation account committee.

He listed those attending the meeting of the committee monthly, as all the chairmen of local governments, representatives of the state’s four traditional councils, the governor’s chief economic adviser and the state accountant general.

Others who were attending the meeting, according to Adejare, were the representatives of the Nigeria union of teachers, local government pension commission, nudge, and retired primary school teachers.

For instance, the state government said between May 2023 and July 2023, the local governments received n4.53 billion in May, n4.44 billion in June and n5.2 billion in July for the first line charges.

The state government also recalled directing the council’s chairmen to identify critical roads in their areas for reconstruction adding that some of them had been commissioned.