Politics
By Tennyson Sampson
THE Human and Environmental Development Agency, HEDA, has called for an investigation of the illicit diversion of local government allocations in Ogun state levelled against the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
The statement jointly signed by Olarenwaju Suraju of HEDA Resources Centre, Zikirullah Ibrahim of CHRICED, Muhammed Attah of PRADIN, Awaru Musa Rafsanjani of CISLAC, and David Ugolor of ANEEJ, stated that the call for investigation followed the allegations by the embattled and allegedly suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Council, Wale Adedayo, that Ogun State Government has been deselecting in discharging its constitutional and fiduciary duties in the remittance of monthly allocations from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, to the 20 Local Government Area Councils in the State.
The statement reads in part: “As a group of anti-corruption Watchdogs with social conscience, we are disturbed on the dire consequences of corrupt practices in depleting our meagre public treasury. The case in Ogun State, by all parameters is a vintage sample of how the society is robbed by unscrupulous public office holders of the scarce funds that could have been deployed to shore up abysmal social infrastructural deficits. Ogun State case should be template for extensive investigation of management and otherwise of local government funds and the JAAC accounts.
“Ogun state is littered with plethora of impassable roads, especially in the rural communities. Most rural dwellers in the state go through harrowing conditions to get their agricultural farm products to markets in urban Centres.
“This adversely affects the means of livelihoods of majority of citizens who are domiciled in the rural interiors. The same funds that are criminally diverted would have been deployed to provide basic social infrastructural facilities in environmental sanitation, primary healthcare and educational services. This corruption scourge in our public space is responsible for retarding the steps towards the nation’s developmental leap as envisaged by the Government and all well-meaning Nigerians.
“We, thus, unequivocally call on the operatives of anti-graft institutions to urgently extend their nets, enlarge their periscope to critically scrutinize the financial books of Ogun State Government, and the Twenty (20) Local Government Councils, with particular emphasis on the transactions in the FAAC and JAAC accounts. All the major players and stakeholders in the State, be it institutional, individual or groups should also be subjected to comprehensive investigations to track how these funds have been diverted from its statutory purposes and destination points like Ijebu East Local Government Area.
“We call on the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to swing into action and do their work on these odious allegations suffocating our public space. We are confident that heavens shall not fall, if the culprits are brought to book. Rather, the country would be with the prospect of a more open, accountable, transparent and equitable ambience necessary for sustainable, holistic development.”
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September 8 2023 @ 17:53 GMT|
Tags: Dapo Abiodun. Olarenwaju Suraju Wale Adedayo Zikirullah Ibrahim
