Ademola Adeleke’s Imagination on LG Funds Diversion Is Illogical, False – Osun Govt
Government of Osun State has described as illogical and false, the allegation by the governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke that the local governments have been directed to return part of their allocations to the state.
In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Adebayo Adeleke, the government said the allegation was not only frivolous but again exposed the Governor-elect that he does not have any idea of how government activities are run.
According to the statement, the allegation was a mere concoction that existed only in Adeleke’s imagination, saying there was no such directive, either from the Governor, Gboyega Oyetola or the Ministry of Local Government.
The fairy tale is more exposed to be nothing short of an imaginary tale as it came barely few days after Osun State under His Excellency Mr Adegboyega Oyetola was adjudged first among the 36 states in Nigeria in the area of Public Finance/Accountability. The ranking by the Federal Government and PLS Initiative, an international organization in a report tagged Subnational Audit Efficacy Index said Osun State achieved the feat through its transparent nature of governance.
Isn’t it therefore ironic that the same government adjudged as the most transparent in the country would now be accused by a purveyor of fairy tales of giving spurious directives to Local Governments to withdraw millions of Naira and bring same to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Without any doubt, anyone close to governance knows it is not run on verbal directives but through circulars and regulations so the author of the fairy tale would have helped his own cause if he had attached a copy of the circular through which the alleged directive was given to Local Governments.
The State Government has nothing to do with Local Government funds. The appropriate body appointed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to deliberate on and disburse Local Government funds is the State Joint Allocation Committee and at no meeting of the Committee was a decision taken that Local Government funds amounting to between Twenty Five and Thirty Million Naira be withdrawn by each Local Government and deposited in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
In any case, the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs is no deposit bank where such huge funds can be brought to.
There is definitely no need to heat up the polity in the name of playing politics and if tales must be told, such should at least have some grains of truth.
“Ademola Adeleke or his cronies should not be taken serious, as he is only making unsubstantiated allegations, just to curry undue sympathies having realized the enormous task which governance involves, so that he would have something to bank on.
“Governor Oyetola is a man of due process, accountability and transparency that will not do anything of such, rather, you will see him supporting the local councils and making them effective with a view to bringing development closer to the grassroots.
“We challenged Adeleke to tell the public, when and where such directive was given, who made it and and back it up with evidence, rather than their ‘beer parlour’ speculations. Under Oyetola’s government, such will never happened, particularly now that that the NFIU policy is in place and strictly being followed in Osun.
“Adeleke should know better that the PDP is the party with records of such mis-management and diversion of public finance. However, Oyetola will never adopt the retrogressive style that the PDP is known for.
“The people of Osun are too intelligent to belief the lies that the governor-elect and his party are spreading and there is no amount of blackmail by the opposition that can disract the government that would work”, he added.
According to the statement, it is a thing of joy that all atrocities perpetrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the recent governorship election have been exposed and would soon be unveiled at the Election Petition Tribunal.
It added that it would have been a disaster if Adeleke had been allowed to run the affairs of the state, saying he has consistently exposed his pure lack of governance and administrative knowledge.
The government then noted that the constitutional mandate Oyetola has with the people for his first term in office ends on November 26 and the administration will not stop working, with hope that soon, the mandate given to him by the people would be restored.
