The All Progressives Congress in Ogun State has described as “uninformed muckraking” a call by the People’s Democratic Party and its defeated candidate in the last governorship election over unsubstantiated allegations on Local Government funds.
The governorship candidate of the PDP, Oladipupo Adebutu, had on Tuesday urged the Ogun State House of Assembly to begin the impeachment process of Governor Dapo Abiodun over alleged withholding of local government funds from the federal allocation if found guilty.
However, in a statement issued in Abeokuta on Tuesday and signed by its Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, the APC said “a sinking man in the sea who will jump at anything, including a straw, the PDP Ogun State has jumped into the fray of the current discussion on Local Government allocation in the state.
The statement reads: “One would have expected a serious party to investigate and access credible data before commenting, but not surprisingly, the PDP and its defeated governorship candidate, Hon. Ladi Adebutu, who is currently a fugitive in the UK, jumped into the fray with an opportunistic agenda asking for the “impeachment” of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
“The state government has rightly made its position known on the issue and awaits due process of the law, especially when the character involved claimed to have written a petition to the relevant agencies of the Federal Government.
“It is obvious that the PDP, whose government in Ogun State broke the records of maladministration and thuggery, assumes that Ogun people have forgotten and that the present government will be like theirs of ignoble past. A party that recently boasted of victory at the Tribunal, no longer wants to wait; it’s now singing a song of “impeachment”.
“We urge discerning people of Ogun State to ignore the machinations of these sore losers, and who were roundly rejected by Ogun people at the last general elections, despite the 200,000 preloaded Verve ATM cards used for vote buying.
“The remarkable feats of the current Administration is attested to by the good people of Ogun State and no amount of political gang-up and propaganda will distract Prince Dapo Abiodun and his team.”
The governorship candidate of the PDP, Oladipupo Adebutu, had on Tuesday urged the Ogun State House of Assembly to begin the impeachment process of Governor Dapo Abiodun over alleged withholding of local government funds from the federal allocation if found guilty.
Adebutu, who spoke through his media aide, Afolabi Orekoya, said the governor had contravened a section of the Constitution as regards the diversion of funds allocated to council areas and must be punished for the act.
The Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Adewale Adedayo, on Sunday wrote to the National Leader of the APC and former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, urging him to convince Abiodun of the need to release funds allocated to the 20 local government areas from the government at the Centre.
He hinted that local government areas in the state had been on zero allocation since 2021 when they were elected into offices
Adedayo also petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practises Commission, calling for the governor’s investigation.
Adebutu said, “The local government chairman has also written a letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and we believe that the Speaker will not sweep the letter under the carpet because he is one of the team members of the governor.
“This is purely an impeachable offence; if this is found to be true, it is an impeachable offence, and we are really watching the House of Assembly members to see how they are going to follow this through and to see their action and steps they will take when this letter is brought to the floor of the House.
“Thank God we are not having the usual rubber stamp House of Assembly in Ogun State now. We have very responsible, very committed members of the PDP, who are also in the House of Assembly now, and I’m sure from what we have heard from our members this morning, they are already taking steps to ensure that the Rule of Law is being followed on this matter.
“We believe that he will bring the letter out and read it on the floor of the House, and we believe the members of the House will do the needful.”
Adebutu noted that the local government chairman’s outburst has confirmed his allegation of diversion of N153 billion in local government funds by Abiodun.
He also called on the anti-graft agencies to investigate Abiodun for allegedly embezzling local government funds.
Meanwhile, the State Government said that the Abiodun-led administration has often had to augment the funds allocated to local governments in the state from the Federation Account to enable them to meet their obligations.
The government, in its reaction to a letter credited to Wale Adedayo, alleging zero revenue allocation to local governments in the state since 2021, said it had never tampered with local government funds.
It wondered how adding to the funds allocated to the local councils to enable them to meet their obligations amounted to hijacking their funds.
It said that funds meant for local governments in the state are being handled by the constitutionally recognised Joint Account and Allocation Committee.
In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Lekan Adeniran, the government said that JAAC members ensure that the third tier of government gets the required allocations for optimal performance.
