Wale Adedayo, the chairman of Ogun State’s Ijebu East Local Government Area, has been held by the Department of State Services (DSS), the country’s secret police. SaharaReporters reported that Adedayo was taken into custody by the DSS on Friday night in Abeokuta, the state’s capital. He accused the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, of hoarding more than N17 billion in statutory federal allocation intended for the state’s local governments during the previous two years, which led to his arrest. Additionally, the governor set up a kangaroo court trial against him in the local government.
According to SaharaReporters, Adedayo claimed that Governor Abiodun had also ordered the state’s chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Akibu Efele, and some members of the Black Axe Confraternity based in Ijebu Ode to punish him. Adedayo made the claim in a letter addressed to a former governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba.
Adedayo, the council chairman, reportedly claimed in the letter that since the state’s LGAs joined in 2021, there has been no federal funding allocated to any of them.
In the letter, Adedayo reportedly pleaded with Osoba to intervene immediately and persuade Abiodun to let the statutory federal allocation to local governments in Ogun State to be distributed equally to each of them as provided for in the 1999 Constitution.
Adedayo said in the letter that the state government’s practice of denying local governments their rightful federal allocations started under the administration of previous governor Ibikunle Amosun.
But according to reports, Governor Abiodun has refuted the claim, claiming that in order for the council chairmen to fulfill their commitments, his administration had to increase the monies given to local governments in the state.
The local government finances were being managed by the Joint Account and Allocation Committee, which is recognized by the constitution, according to a statement from the governor via his chief press secretary, Lekan Adeniran.