The Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that the former chairmen of the 18 local government areas in the state are still collecting salaries after they have left office.
The opposition party also alleged that the immediate-past chairmen refused to hand over to the most senior council official in their respective councils after their tenure had expired in August.
This was contained in a statement issued by the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kennedy Peretei, on Thursday.
According to Peretei, the development was part of the consequences of the absence of the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, who is still recuperating in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The opposition party said,
“The multidimensional consequences of the absence of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State from his duty post, due to ill health, once again, have come to the fore. The former local government chairmen, whose three-year tenure ended in August this year, are still drawing salaries from the state treasury.
“The ugly development is simply because no new political helmsmen have been appointed by the governor who has been battling with his health and there is no agreement between warring factions of the government as to how to fill these sensitive vacancies.
“The former council bosses also refused to hand over their official vehicles despite the dissolution of the councils by Lucky Aiyedatiwa during his tenure as acting governor. The impunity orchestrated by Akeredolu and his collaborators on the people of Ondo State is unprecedented.”
The opposition party also decried the absence of the state at President Bola Tinubu’s meeting with the National Police Council in Abuja which all governors or their deputies attended, on Tuesday, saying “neither has the state had any representation at the regular National Economic Council meetings in Abuja since Akeredolu fell ill.”
“The PDP, Ondo State chapter, once again reiterates that the plan of Akeredolu’s handlers to profit from this sorry state of affairs and completely run the state aground will be resisted by all lawful means,” the statement declared.
But in a reaction, the former LG chairmen, who were members of the All Progressives Congress, denied the allegation, describing it as “a lie from the pit of hell.”
Speaking on behalf of the former chairmen, the immediate-past chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria in Ondo State, Mr Augustine Oloruntogbe, said none of his members had financial engagement in their councils after leaving office.
Oloruntogbe, who was a former Chairman of the Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state, said’
“The PDP in Ondo State has been spreading falsehood against us, saying that we, the former chairmen, are still collecting salaries from our various local governments.
“We are here to deny the allegation vehemently and to tell the whole world that it is a lie from the pit of hell.
“Since we left the local government, we have never received a dime from our local government. Even when I was appointed as one of the panel members to chair the palliatives, I had to send a representative since I was no longer in the local government.
“We haven’t had any financial relationships with our local governments since we left. We left on August 30, 2023.”
Similarly, corroborating his colleague, a former chairman of the Idanre Local Council, Prince Kayode Aroloye, said none of their members was involved in such an act, asking the PDP to retract the allegation or face the legal consequences.
“We have not been collecting salaries. We are, therefore, instructing that the allegation by the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Ondo State, Kennedy Peretei, should be immediately withdrawn and an apology given within the next 24 hours, otherwise he will hear from our lawyers.
“We are men and women of integrity. Some of us built our names over the years before we entered politics. We will not allow our names to be rubbed in the mud under the guise of playing politics. We won’t accept this. If they have been doing it, we won’t allow this to go unchallenged,” Aroloye stressed.
