By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta
The minority caucus of the Ogun State House of Assembly has called on the executive arm of the State government, led by Prince Dapo Abiodun to be more transparent in in his dealing with local government funds, especially federal allocations.
The caucus said this while reacting to the allegation made by the Chairman, Ijebu East Local Government Area of the State, Mr. Wale Adedayo that Governor Abiodun has withholding statutory federal allocation and non remittance of the 10% internally generated revenue, IGR due to local governments in the state, in the last two years.
It therefore called on the executive to come up with enough evidences to address the allegation.
Speaking on behalf of the caucus, the Minority Leader, Lukman Adeleye, said the Local Government Councils must be allowed to thrive as a closest government to the people, through proper accountability.
Adeleye recalled how the Chairman of Ijebu East Local government area, Mr Wale Adedayo was widely reported to have written to former Governor Olusegun Osoba, to complain bitterly on how the LGs allocations were withheld by the governor, which he said led to the inability the councils to execute projects.
He added that, the Council boss allegedly petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), calling for the investigation of the governor over alleged diversion of local government funds.
Adeleye said though, the governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Lekan Adeniran, denied the allegations, but proofs of payments, receipts and other documents would go a long way in ensuring transparency.
He said, “as representatives of the people, it behoves on the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) members in the Assembly to be on the side of the people, unravel the true situation and act accordingly.”
In his words, he said, “truly, it would be bad if money meant to be used by the local government to make lives of the people better is being siphoned. By the time the Assembly begins investigation, we shall get to the root of the matter. “
“As we speak, it is still a mere accusation, unless we know the true situation, nothing can be done. Of course, before now, we have been asking questions as a party, and now Adedayo is re-echoing our stand. We won’t shy away from the complaints that the councils are handicapped to handle any projects as this seems visible. “
“The chairmen of councils must help the people by coming forward to substantiate the allegations. This is not a party thing. If we need to help our society, we must be ready to stand up for what is right, ” Adeleye stated.
Adeleye said one of the cardinal points of his party is the autonomy of the local government, which must be fully funded to ensure that dividends of democracy get to the people, saying that any act inimical to its proper funding and autonomy must be done away with.
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