Amid the ongoing controversy around funds allocated to the Local Government Areas across the country, all the 20 Local Government Chairmen in Ogun State on Tuesday night besieged the Office of the State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
The politicians were at the office to beg for his forgiveness on behalf of one of them, Chairman, Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, who accused the governor of withholding their constituency allocations.
The Chairmen led by the ALGON Chairman, Babatunde Emilola-Gazal, stormed the governor’s office in Abeokuta, and begged for forgiveness.
A video of the meeting which has gone viral showed the ALGON begging for forgiveness on behalf of his colleagues including Wale Adedayo, who wrote the petition.
All 20 of them went on their knees as they appealed to state’s number 1 citizen to have mercy.
Emilola-Gazal said, “Your Excellency, we have come here to beg you as a father that you are, as a father of all in the state, we want you to forgive us.
“Your Excellency, if you don’t forgive us, who do we run to? So, on behalf of all of us, I am tendering this apology and in particular, on behalf of Wale Adedayo.”
Responding, Governor Abiodun in his remarks declared that he had always carried out his responsibilities as the governor with “every sincerity of purpose.”
The repentant petitioner, Adedayo had accused the governor of withholding the LGs’ allocations.
Adedayo lamented that LG Chairmen had been unable to execute projects in the last two years, and asked former Governor Olusegun Osoba to urgently wade in, and convince Abiodun to allow “the statutory Federal Allocation to Local Governments in Ogun State to reach each of them as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution.”
The Council boss also petitioned the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), calling for the investigation of the governor over alleged diversion of local government funds.