The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has called for security protection for sacked chairman of Ijebu East Local Government area of Ogun State, Hon. Wale Adedayo.
The latter levelled corrupt practices at Gov Dapo Abiodun, accusing him of diversion of allocation of the 20 local government areas in the state from the federal government among others in a letter to ex-governor of the state, Chief Segun Osoba.
He equally petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Consequently, Adedayo was detained by the Department of State Services and has been dragged to court by the governor on grounds of defamation.
Weighing in on the matter, CACOL in a statement signed by its Chairman, Debo Adeniran, stated that the matter should not be glossed over just as it sought for Hon. Adedayo’s protection by the security arms.
It read in part: “We are alarmed by the use of state’s security institutions to harass Hon. Adedayo, who had once more been reportedly arrested by the police on the strength of a petition by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
“It is our expectation that the police are aware that Adedayo is a whistle blower in this case, who should be protected by security agencies.
“Also, his inalienable rights under constitutional democracy which include that he cannot be lawfully detained by the police beyond 24 hours, should be fully respected.”
The anti-graft group recalled that Adedayo, the chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, had on August 28, 2023 written a petition to Chief Olusegun Osoba and the EFCC, accusing Abiodun of diverting council funds in Ogun State.
The funds allegedly diverted from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) by the state government, he had said, covered all statutory allocations from 2021, running into several billions of naira.
CACOL said: “Subsequently, the whistle blowing Chairman, Adedayo, was unceremoniously impeached in suspicious circumstances. The state government deployed state machinery of coercion to arrest and detain the council chairman, Adedayo, and allegedly intimidated the councillors to carry out the impeachment processes.
CACOL stated, “On September 2, 2023, Wale Adedayo was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) on the account of a spurious petition by the state government, but he was later released after four days in detention, paving the way for the purported impeachment.
“As this may still be subject of litigation processes, we CACOL would refrain from further comments on the impeachment,” CACOL said.
