The recently released Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, Wale Adedayo has accused his colleagues of betraying him.
Adedayo complained that his colleagues backed down after they jointly wrote the protest letter to the former governor, Segun Osoba,alleging that the state governor, Dapo Abiodun diverted the councils funds.
In a surprising turn of events, Adedayo, the suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area in Ogun State, who was recently released after spending three days in the custody of the Department of State Security Services (DSS),said he would continue his advocacy for local government access to federal allocations.
Adedayo, who had been detained due to a petition filed by Abiodun, expressed unwavering determination in his demand that local governments in Ogun State should receive federal allocations intended for grassroots development.
He insisted that he had no regrets about his actions and comments despite the arrest.
Shortly after his release, Adedayo clarified that the arrest stemmed from allegations of inciting comments made against him in the petition by Governor Abiodun.
However, he emphasized that the only controversial statement he made was in a letter to former Governor Osoba, where he accused Abiodun of not funding local governments in the state for two years.
Adedayo also stated that he would not retract his statement about zero allocations to local governments and apologized only if his words had embarrassed the governor, asserting that his motive was to advocate for the welfare of grassroots communities.
Adedayo revealed that other local government chairmen in the state had contributed to the letter addressed to Osoba regarding zero allocations, and he had merely edited and added his name to it.
He expressed his surprise at his colleagues’ decision to step back from the struggle.
Addressing the DSS’s claim of inciting comments against the state government, Adedayo firmly denied any such allegations, asserting that he had acted based on his conscience and in collaboration with his fellow chairmen, even though they eventually withdrew their support.
He defended the content of the letter he had written to Chief Olusegun Osoba.
Adedayo highlighted the importance of local governments having access to their federal allocations and emphasized that if this happened, Governor Abiodun would receive credit for their positive impact, citing the example of Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s tenure between 2003 and 2011.
He mentioned that the grassroots development during that period was primarily attributed to local government chairmen having access to funds.
Regarding the Joint Account Allocation Committee’s assertion that no local government funds were missing, Adedayo challenged them to report to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and insisted that local government chairmen should be accountable to the people.
The DSS, Adedayo said, “they claimed there is a letter from the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, that I was making inciting comments against the state government but I told them that there was nothing like that or who did they say I have incited?
“They said that I was planning a protest but I said I don’t know anything about that and I told them that I had only done what my conscience said that I should and this I did with my other colleagues and chairmen even though they all ran back.
” My conscience is very clear in the letter I wrote to Chief Olusegun Osoba, the former governor of the state and a national leader of our party, APC.
“Some of the chairmen had input into the letter, I only did the editing of the letter, put my name there, and then sent it and what is written in the letter affects all the council chairmen, so it is not about getting their backing or not.
“So what the governor wanted me to do was to retract what the letter contained but I said that I won’t do that.
“The DSS later said the governor said that I have embarrassed him and I said if the governor felt that I have embarrassed him, I am sorry but the truth is that the facts are there for “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 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.”
On the Joint Account Allocation Committee being saddled with the responsibility of managing the council fund in the state, Adedayo said, “Let them tell that to the EFCC, I have sent my letters to them. Who is even JAAC?
” This concerns the local government chairmen and if each of them claimed that they have been collecting the money meant to develop their council areas they should be ready to give account to the people.”
Concluding his statement, the suspended council boss announced his intention to challenge his suspension in court, labeling all allegations against him by lawmakers as false fabrications
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