The Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Ogun State, Sikirulahi Ogundele, tells OLUMIDE TAIWO his thoughts on the recent feud between Governor Dapo Abiodun and the suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, over allegation of diversion of funds meant for the local government
What is your assessment of the All Progressives Congress government both at the state and national levels in the last 100 days?
Thanks for this opportunity. I was a member of the legislative arm in Ogun State for eight years, from 1999 to 2007 and then I became the chairman of Ifo Local Government from 2007 to 2011. We ran a very responsible government and the evidence is there till today for everyone to see. I was a very resourceful lawmaker; the fact that Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye started running a multi-campus system as it was originally designed was because of the bill I presented to the House. We now have a campus at Ibogun for engineering and another one at Ayetoro for agricultural courses. There is just no basis to compare the PDP government with what we are seeing under the APC government. The 100 days in office of President Bola Tinubu is undoubtedly a bundle of disappointment. Rather than helping to assuage the pain the (former President) Muhammadu Buhari government inflicted on Nigerians, the President has worsened it. An average Yoruba man is seen to be a welfarist but Tinubu has begged to differ, with this removal of fuel subsidy without any plan on ground to cushion the excruciating pain.
The President said he had good intentions and the hardship would soon become a thing of the past, do you doubt that promise?
I am telling you this policy has further impoverished Nigerians, the rich are even crying now. I now spend an average of N120,000 every day to run generators at my two hotels. Don’t forget that this same set of people were the ones who said subsidy was a scam; that there was nothing like subsidy when former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration wanted to remove it, with good plans on ground to ensure that the people wouldn’t feel the pain that much. But here we are today, the President from day one in office announced that subsidy was gone with nothing on ground to cushion the effect for our people, putting the cart before the horse. If you say subsidy is riddled with corruption, what are you doing with those perpetrating these criminal acts? Remember that we are just surviving the downturn in the economy caused by Covid-19 pandemic, then we entered the era of the (former Central Bank governor) Godwin Emefiele’s useless cashless policy which brought a lot of hardship on our people. Some even died and now it is the removal of subsidy on petrol. Nothing cheery about this government at all; it has been an extremely wicked government.
How has the government of Abiodun fared in the last 100 days since he came in for the second term?
Talking about our dear state, this is not even a matter of 100 days. We are talking of a government that has spent over four years with nothing to show for it. Governor Dapo Abiodun has taken us back for about 30 years. Ogun State is known to be a civil servant state and the workers usually get their salaries as and when due, but the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel changed all of these, opening up the state for more investors to come in and transforming the economy. But Governor Abiodun has changed all of these. Now workers are owed salaries because the chunk of their salaries, which are deductions and meant to be kept with their individual cooperative societies running into billions of naira, have not been paid. The workers must have embarked on strikes on three occasions to demand for the payment of these outstanding entitlements and it was during one of such strikes that a worker collapsed and died some time ago. Rather than attending to many terrible roads in the state, the governor chose to re-asphalt the Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu Expressway that was originally constructed during the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel. The Adatan, Kugba roads and several others are begging for attention. I don’t see anything fantastic that Governor Abiodun has done in other critical sectors, such as health, education, agriculture, etc. Some of us are however not surprised because here is a man that talked about his being not prepared for the daunting tasks of managing a sophisticated state like Ogun State. He said that he only wanted to be a senator when circumstances forced him to be a governor, and so his unpreparedness has really given him away. And for his 100 days in office, he has just historically marked that with the suspension, arrest and detention of the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Hon Wale Adedayo, who was elected under the same party, APC just because he summoned courage to bring to the open the alleged fraud being perpetrated with the funds that are meant for grass roots development.
As a former council boss, what do you make of the local government administration today?
There is just no basis to compare the local government administration that we ran under PDP and what we are seeing under the APC government. It’s in a shambles. For instance, I built multibillion naira markets in Ifo, Akute and Agbado, they are still there standing and the fund was from the allocations accruing to the local government. We only got approval from the state government. We constructed classrooms, health centres and over 100 boreholes. The boreholes were the projects done by my councilors. The local governments were better managed under the PDP administration because we had our independence unlike what we now see under the APC government.
How did you receive your funds at the time?
There were deductions of first line charges too under the PDP administration but it was transparently done and backed by the law, yet we had funds to embark on projects to complement what the state government was doing. That is no longer the case here in the state. There was a time the PDP raised the alarm about the diversion of local government funds but to some people we were just being a set of irritants playing politics with everything, but now we have been vindicated. It can now be established that this government is stealing and not responsible. Luckily, it is coming from an insider right now and Wale Adedayo said that he had reported the alleged fraud to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, so it is a must that this anti-graft agency must help us get to the root of this matter. It is shameful, really shameful. It is remarkable that the governor can use his executive powers to intimidate an elected local government chairman who has the same mandate to serve the people like Mr Governor just because he alleged that the governor was diverting the resources meant to develop the grass roots in the state.
What do you think can be done to ensure that local governments across the country live up to expectations and fulfil their constitutional roles?
It is unfortunate that this anomaly began under the APC government. It was never like this when the PDP was in power and it all boiled down to the greed of the governors and that was why the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, called them out, accusing them of not allowing the local government to develop by stealing the money meant for them. The governors are just wicked and President Tinubu should caution them while the EFCC and other security agencies should ensure that those found wanting should be prosecuted and this should start with Governor Abiodun. The allegation of stealing and diversion of LG funds as revealed by Wale Adedayo is a reflection of the bad deeds of the present administration in Ogun State.
You were a lawmaker, how come the Houses of Assembly are not doing anything about the anomaly?
What can they do; our Houses of Assembly are extension of the governors’ office. I was there for eight years and so I know what I am saying. A lot of what we do there is noisemaking because even the constitution has not given specific roles to the lawmakers. Your motions are mere advisory which means that the governor could either take it or leave it, and your bills are subjected to assent by the governor and this he could withdraw too. Except the constitution is amended, the Assembly remains the offshoot of the executive because he who pays the piper calls the tune. Even to impeach the governor over any allegation is a herculean task and ordinarily impossible with the current constitution, because the Assembly can only allege. Their work stops at making the allegations. It is after this that another arm of government, the judiciary, sets up a panel of persons that will recommend his impeachment or not, and you expect the governor to watch as the panel recommends his impeachment? The impeachment of former governors Joshua Dariye and Rashidi Ladoja of Plateau and Oyo states was successful because of the misrule of former President Olusegun Obasanjo then, but the court tore that act apart and reinstated the two of them. So, until the constitution gives specific roles to the lawmakers, the House of Assembly will remain offshoot of the executives.
The Ogun State governorship election petition tribunal has reserved judgment in the case between your governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, and Abiodun of the APC, are you anxious?
We are hopeful. We have submitted enough convincing evidence. We really have a very genuine case and we have proved that before the tribunal. So, we trust God for good news.
