External Auditor Indicts Impeached Ogun LG Chairman, Says He Stole Millions
There’s a new development on how the impeached chairman of Ijebu East LG in Ogun State, Wale Adedayo (Alias Babalawo) allegedly mismanaged funds of the council running into tens of millions of naira.
A preliminarily report of external auditors who recently examined the books of the Ijebu East LG made startling revelations on how the impeached chairman mismanaged the council funds as far back as 2021.
One of the findings by the external Auditor is the Ojowo road project from Ijebu Imushin to Ijebu Ife which was “approved” for N4,400,000 (Four Million four hundred thousand naira).
This fund was said to be sent to a personal account.
After inspection, the said project was discovered to be waste of funds, an act of fraud, because the road is very bad again within three months.
The Council under Adedayo, spent funds against the statutory provisions of federal budget and spent without projects or approval, while money was released and paid out without vouchers.
Other findings by the auditor is spending without project. “There are instances of money being approved and sent to personal accounts, without prosper documentation of all the projects and money approved.”
“More so, all local government receipts are fake! There were monthly payments to 12 staff who were not staff of the Council where another non-staff got advance payment of N50,000.”
Transfer to personal account of Adedayo
In the Community Department, a sum of N2,556,000.00 (Two million, five hundred and fifty-six thousand naira) was withdrawn for “empowerment” but later transferred to the personal account of one “Wale Adedayo” on January 27, 2023, whereas no empowerment was held in the local government area.
Similarly, another sum of N3,556,000 was paid into the personal account of the former HOD of Community Department and later, within 24 hours, transferred into the personal account of one “Wale Adedayo” at Guaranty Trust Bank. However, the sum of N500,000.00 ( five hundred thousand naira only) was transferred back into the account of a local government staff.
Again, the money was said to be meant for “empowerment”, but no such programme held in the Local Government.
N1,000,000. Spent of Immunization for goats
The impeached council Chairman claimed to have spent N1,000,000.00 (one million naira) to immunize goats in the local government. The Supervisor for Agriculture, whose department purported handled the immunization, denied knowledge of such immunization. When contacted, the company said to have supplied the vaccine said they do not have the vaccine and even when they had, it was N600.00 (six hundred naira) per one as against N7,000.00 (Seven thousand naira) per one signed by Adedayo.
Spending on Media
Adedayo claimed to have spent about N450,000.00 (Four hundred and fifty thousand naira) on media for the commissioning of Legislative Chambers. There was no receipt to back up the amount and there was no clippings of the media reports on the commissioning to back up the expenditure.
Multiple withdrawals by Adedayo’s driver from Project Account
Another startling discovery are the startling withdrawal from the council’s project account at the Zenith Bank by Wale Adedayo’s driver by the name Adedayo Balogun. It was discovered that Balogun repeatedly withdrew from the account, more than 25 times, various amounts ranging from N30,000.00 (thirty thousand naira) to N50,000.00 (Fifty thousand naira). Balogun is not even a staff of the project department of the council.
It would be recalled that Adedayo had earlier alleged that the Ogun State government has not been sending money to his local government coffers from the federation account; a claim his fellow chairmen not only disassociated themselves from, but also showcased what many of them have been able to do with the federal allocations. However, Adedayo maintained that his council has not received a dime from the state government since he became chairman.
The state government on its part has published records of disbursement of funds to the 20 local government councils in Ogun State and has petitioned the police against Wale Adedayo for lies and public incitement. The police is currently prosecuting Adedayo on false claims at a Magistrate Court, Abeokuta.
The Ijebu East LG Councilors who impeached the former chairman after his eventual appearance before the legislative council, maintained that the former chairman grossly mismanaged the funds of the council, diverted funds and operated without budget approval, among other impeachable offenses.
The suspended chairman allegedly opened up before the full house of 11 councillors that he diverted federal allocations sent to the council by the state government and used them for purposes other than what the state government approved.
He was said to have also agreed that he spent the council funds till August 2023 even when the budget was yet to be approved whereas the laws only allow him to spend till March 2023.
Adedayo was said to have also opened up that he used N5.2 million to produce 20 pieces of chairs and tables instead of the 290 chairs and tables that the money was meant for as approved by the state government. He could not tell the House what the remnant of the money for chairs and table was used for.
On the issue of illegal levies and stickers to commercial transport operators in the LG, Adedayo said he thought the house had passed a bill to that effect, but Akindele reminded him that a bill if passed, would have been jointly signed by the leader of the house and the council chairman.
The Councilors said Adedayo had severally shunned invitations from the House, maintains that his issues with the Governor were mere ploy to divert attention and cover up his mismanagement of the council’s funds. The House stated that the chairman ran foul of the laws of the land, specifically the Ogun State Local Government Laws 2006, and committed serious impeachable offences.
Therefore, the leader of the House, Hon. Faseyi Akindele, after voting by the Councilors, pronounced Adedayo impeached as the chairman of Ijebu East LG.
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
