Ogun State High Court sitting in Ijebu Ode on Wednesday adjourned the suit filed by the suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Mr Wale Adedayo, asking the court to stop further investigations and actions by Councilors of the council probing him on allegations of financial mismanagement.
In its ruling on the ex-parte 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 while adjourning the originating summons to September 22, 2023 for hearing.
Councillors of Ijebu East Legislative Council recently suspended the chairman for three months citing alleged maladministration and financial malpractices and directed the Vice Chairman of the Council to take over pending the conclusion of its investigation.
The suspension of Adedayo came on the heels of a letter he had written to a former governor in the state, Chief Olusegun, Osoba, alleging that the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, had hijacked funds meant to develop the local government totalling about N10.8bn while also forwarding a petition to the anti-graft agencies over the same allegations.
The Joint Account and Allocation Committee in the state saddled with the responsibility of managing the local government federal allocations has however dismissed the allegation, affirming that every fund approved by the committee passed through the various Local Council Accounts.
The state government while speaking on the allegation of local government fund diversion as alleged by Adedayo had insisted that no dime of the local government was missing and that it has always augmented the allocations for the council areas otherwise it would have been practically impossible for them to meet up with their financial obligations.
However, speaking in court on Wednesday, Counsel to Adedayo, Barr Are informed the court of the motion ex-parte dated September 6, 2022, praying for an interim order restraining the Defendants, their agents, and privies from further proceeding on the letter of invitation to the claimant asking him to appear before the Legislative Council on September 14, 2023, 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 31st August 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.
When contacted for his reaction to the court’s ruling, Adedayo said, “Misrepresentation. The court fixed 22 September for hearing. The judge refused our motion ex parte application, preferring the others to be notified.”
