The Suspension of Wale Adedayo, Suspended Chairman, Ijebu East Local Government : What You Should Know
By Hon Fasheyi Adesuji Akindele
The situation demands that I put this down for the records and for posterity sake.
It is unfortunate that the situation got to a point where we had to suspend the Local Government Chairman of Ijebu East; Hon. Wale Adedayo, but situation demands that we do it to salvage the Local Government from being plundered into further financial mess.
Let me also state that our position and action has nothing to do with his crisis with the State Government as what led to his suspension is a result of several attempts by the House to get his full attention through series of invitations to appear before the House, which he refused to honour, coupled with the petitions received from the Executive and others.
The law is expected to be respected by all, irrespective of class or strata.
While we await his appearance at the Chamber based on the invitation to come “Open Books” for us, let me unveil what I believe the good people of Ijebu East who elected us into office should know.
1. That my relationship and rapport with the suspended Chairman had been cordial, smooth before our election and thereafter.
2. Building on the good relationship and rapport, I had on several occasions given him all the legislative support needed in collaboration with other members of the House for him to have the required environment for a successful administration.
3. The Suspended Council Chairman having gotten all the needed support, became a “thin god”, became found of himself and instead of working with other appointed Executive members prefer to operate as a sole administrator in collaboration with the career officers.
4. Their collaboration encouraged him to relegate and neglect other executive members to the point where the chairman denied Executive members, including the Vice Chairman, minutes of previous meetings at F&JPC. A practice that happened till his last period in office before suspension. So many approvals were done without the awareness of the cabinet members, even money were paid from the Council’s account without vouchers.
5. Having discovered the manner with which he was running the administration of the Local Government in secrecy, the House invited him again but he chose to ignore us.
– *He was invited in the Month of June 2023 for the first time and the Month of July 2023 for the second time*
6. In all of these, as legislators, we deviced some means to draw his attention to the need to appear before the House and explain why he has chosen to run the Local Government in contravention of the basic rules and principles of rule of law as practiced in a democracy that we are.
7. Having noticed his nonchalant attitude and flair for spending extravagantly without approvals and late submission of budget the House decided to freeze the Local Government account some times in the middle of year 2022, an act which the suspended Chairman saw as an efrontry on our part and thereafter plot on dividing the members by creating in house rift among members of the Legislative Council. He exerted so much pressure and threat that we have to unfreeze the account after 48 hours.
8. Another major reason that triggered the suspended Chairman against me and other members of the House is our opposition to his financial mismanagement.
9. It is being rumoured of been paid to suspend the Chairman and unfortunately the fake news was being spearheaded by a Senior Colleague in the person of *Hon Waliu Owode* representing Ijebu East Local Government in the State House of Assembly on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Someone who should know better. While still consulting with our lawyers, may I ask Hon Waliu Owode if he’s been paid to lead the protest he initiated when he heard of the suspension of the Chairman? Hon. Owode has begged me personally behind the scene that we should spare the Chairman and I replied that we are merely carrying out our constitutional duty by investigating the financial management of the collective wealth of Ijebu East people. The Ogun State House of Assembly invited the JAAC members to the Assembly on Friday, September 1, 2023. May we ask Owode if the members of the House of Assembly were paid to invite the JAAC members? The high position of House of Assembly demands maturity if Owode must be told.
As legislators that we are, we are not expected to be induced to perform our legitimate responsibilities.
That is by the way!
10. My major reason for putting pen down is not about “Zero Allocation” as I am not in position to delve into the matter but come to think about it, the little figures we had and got from both IGR and Federal/State Allocations, what has the Administration of the suspended Chairman done to better the lives of the electorates in the LG?
I make bold to say I and other members of my colleagues influenced his decision to at least do something which will bear his name was what brought about the completion of the legislative Chamber, which was started by Pa S.A Bakare when he was Chairman of the local government and now the Chairman is falsely claiming he built the Legislative Chamber from scratch. This is not true. At some point, the money meant for the project was to be diverted by the suspended Chairman, but thank God for the State ( Hon. Afolabi Afuape as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Mr. Peter Fagbohun, as Permanent Secretary) who insisted, when I ran to them, who insisted that the money be spent on what it has been approved for.
11. I also think it is vital to ask ourselves questions so as to draw the consciousness of our people to reality.
– Why did he turned down on two occasions, the invitation extended to him by the House? *(June and July 2023)*
– Was he assuming to be above the House?
12. His attention was called to this situation and the need to arrest the situation but for whom he is, shunned our efforts to resolve the issues.
13. You will also recall that recently, Ijebu East Local Government became a laughing stock due to the pile of refuse at the Ijebu Imushin Market. In his usual style, the suspended Chairman looked away until there were revolt from the market women and community leaders. Hon. Boluwatife Osifisan (Deputy Leader representing Ijebu Imushin Ward 2) had on several occasions raised the matter at plenaries as matters of urgent public importance but alas, the suspended Chairman neither gave a listening ear nor work on the resolutions of the House until it became an issue. The community through Barrister Adebayo Balogun wrote letters over the issue , yet the suspended chairman was not bothered. He even threatened that he will arrest the market women and also depose our first class ruler, Kabiyesi Oloko of Ijebu Imushin.
14. The Chairman seems to be enjoying the misappropriation, the maladministration and other non-charlant attitude that has led us thus far.
15. Again, the executive brought a Bill which we discussed but was not signed considering the prevailing circumstances across the country brought about by subsidy removal and as a result of that, the House left the bill without signing, only for the Chairman to contract out the sales of the ticket/stickers as levy to motorists and Okada riders, which is not only an extortion but also an act of illegality and double taxation.
16. It is also paramount to state that the budget for the years 2023 is yet to be approved because of the inability of the Chairman to meet with some of the requirements on our part which are :
– Provisions of the copies of the income and expenditures of the Local Government from October 2022 till date.
– Provision of copies of 2022 approved budget to all honourable members.
– Appearance of the major principal officers from the Local Government Career Staff (The HOLGA, Treasurer and Planner) before the House.
All the simple requirements above have not been met hence, the delay in the approval of the budget for the year 2023.
17. The suspended Chairman in his style went ahead spending without budgetary approval. The laws says the Chairman cannot spend beyond March of any year pending budget approval but the Chairman was spending until August 2023 when he was suspended.
18. Let me also state that there are more to unveil but let us start with these. We will not hesitate to do so if situation warrant, for now, let’s keep hope alive and be rest assured that our action is for the good of all of us.
We have no other place we can call ours and won’t do anything that will jeopardize the progress of our darling Local Government.
Our commitment remains resolute to the progress and development of Ijebu East Local Government, which we shall continue to uphold no matter the challenges ahead of us.
Ijebu East Local Government will not be dragged backwards in our time while we stand aside and look.
As stated earlier, I had to go this far because there is need to do so and as well use this medium to reach back to the people and inform them of the situation that built up leading to the suspension of the Chairman.
I remain my humble self in service to my people.
E – Signed :
*Hon. Fasheyi Adesuji Akindele.
– Leader of the House
Ijebu East Local Government Legislative Council*
