…As court rejects bid to stop legislative probe
…Expected before Council lawmakers today
By Abiodun Taiwo
More trouble may be coming for the suspended Chairman of Ijebu Est Local Government Area (LGA) of Ogun State, Mr. Wale Adedayo, as an Ogun State High Court, sitting in Ijebu Ode, yesterday dismissed an ex-parte application he filed asking the court to stop further investigations and actions by his Council’s legislative arm probing him on allegations of financial mismanagement.
There are fears that the legislative investigation may pave the way for the opening of an impeachment process against the embattled Chairman.
In his ruling on the ex-parte application argued by Barrister O. T. Are, standing in for A.M. Kotoye, SAN, on behalf of Mr. Adedayo, the presiding judge, Justice A.A. Omoniyi dismissed the application in “its entirety.”
It would be recalled that Councilors of Ijebu East Legislative Council recently suspended Adedayo in continuation of investigations on alleged financial malpractices. They directed the Council Vice Chairman, Hon. Adetutu Elizabeth Oyesanya, to take over, pending the conclusion of their investigation.
The legislators said they had received several allegations against Mr. Adedayo.
Some of the allegations levelled against him included: that the Chairman withdrew millions of Naira from the LG account for empowerment in 2022, but no empowerment was done to date; wastage of millions of Naira on August 20, 2022, on Isese festival; withdrawing of N250,000 duty tour allowance (DTA) for the Chairman and other top functionaries in June 2023 and another N250,000 DTA for the Chairman and other top officials for another engagement.
Other allegations are that the Chairman spent N426,000 on purported production of a report on the 2020 ‘Jigbo’ festival in Ijebu East, ”when we were even yet elected”; inauguration expenses of Women in Politics in Ijebu East LG at N350,000 in 2022, with no money being released to the women group.
The lawmakers further alleged that Adedayo expended, on entertainment and other logistics during the commissioning of the Council’s Legislative Building, the sum of N350,000 on April 18, 2023; another entertainment subheading on the same commissioning of the Legislative Building the sum of N295,000 on same April 18, 2023.
Other allegations were: “The second N8.2 million sent from phase 2 of the project (tables and the chairs for schools) 20 (twenty) chairs were made with N8.2m (Eight million two hundred thousand naira).
“Another N20 million sent from the state is nowhere to be found.
“Another N15 million sent from the state went the same way without any project to show for it.
“Award of two boreholes at a scandalous price of N1.8 million each, totaling N3.6 million for just two boreholes.”
Mr. Adedayo was also accused of illegal tax collection from Ijebu East commercial motorcycle operators (‘okada’ riders) and drivers through what he called “levy” without the approval of the Legislative Council, which, according to the legislators, amounted to double taxation for the people of Ijebu East ”during this tough period.”
Adedayo’s ex-parte motion, dated September 6, 2022, prayed for an interim order restraining the defendants, their agents, and privies from further proceeding on the letter of invitation asking him to appear before the Legislative Council on September 14, 2023 (today), or, in the alternative, to order parties to maintain the status quo.
In its ruling, the court noted that the application by the plaintiff was not timely since he had received a notice on August 31, 2023, of the said resolution but waited till September 11, 2023, before filing his application.
“Delay defeats equity,” the judge said.
The claimant was ordered to put the defendants on notice and come back for the hearing of the originating summons on September 22, 2023.
Crisis started for the Chairman when he wrote a letter to former Governor of Ogun state, Chief Segun Osoba, where he reported incumbent Gov. Dapo Abiodun that his Ijebu East Council had not received any federal allocation, running into several billions of Naira (which statutorily comes through the state government) for about two years now.
In the letter, Adedayo reportedly accused Gov. Abiodun of hijacking public funds and forwarded a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the same allegation.
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Not only did Gov. Abiodun deny the allegation, but the LG Legislative Council kicked off a probe into Adedayo’s financial dealings and slammed a three-month suspension on him.
His woes increased when on Friday, September 1 this year, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) detained him, releasing the Chairman after about a week.
He vowed to challenge his suspension through lawful means.
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