Residents of Ijebu Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State have given the council chairman, Babatunde Emilola-Gazal a 48-hour ultimatum to give account of how he spent the allocation he had received from the federal government in the last two years.
The residents who gave the ultimatum in a notice pasted around Ijebu-Ode town on Thursday, demanded the resignation of the council chairman, if he fails to account for the LG allocation.
The notice reads: “Gazal must go, Gazal must go, Gazal must go. Explain to the Ijebus what you have done with the collected federal allocation according to your claim. You are hereby given 48 hours to furnish the Ijebus how you spend the allocations. Failure to do this will lead to protest within the local government. By concerned citizens”.
Our correspondent gathered that, Emilola-Gazal, who is also the chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, having seen the notice stayed away from office to avoid being attacked.
Recall that Emilola-Gazal while speaking on the alleged diversion of the LG funds as claimed by the suspended Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, had said that there was nothing like that “because governor Dapo Abiodun has always allow the local governments to utilize their allocation”.
He had led other local government chairmen in the state last Tuesday to prostrate and beg the governor over the outburst of Adedayo on the allegation of zero allocation to the local governments for the past two years.
But, speaking with our correspondent, a resident of Ijebu-Ode, Adeola Balogun, insisted that Emilola-Gazal should explain the finances of the council since he prostrated to the governor in disapproval of Adedayo’s claim.
“Our people are really ready to listen to him. He shouldn’t even wait for us to ask him before he starts explaining with concrete evidence. Because for him to have protested to the government against what the Ijebu east chairman said, it means he has been receiving allocation and we are interested in knowing how he had spent the money given to him.
“We will be here waiting for him, this is where we leave.”
When contacted, Emilola-Gazal described the ultimatum and the notice as a sponsored move.
He said, “You are aware of what happened as regards a letter written by Wale Adedayo. He raised issues and also made request and we had an amicable understanding that issues should be resolved in-house henceforth.
“We all agreed that internal mechanisms should be explored to solve all issues because, what will you gain if we keep dragging ourselves to the media? Even me, I have been maligned, I am being maligned but… .
“Giving an account is the easiest thing for me to do but nobody should give me an ultimatum, when it is time we shall come out and explain things. But let me just say this, that this has been orchestrated by some persons within the local government, Yes! A few of them and I can tell you that authoritatively and we have an idea of who they are. They are trying to cause a breach of the peace of the society and appropriate authorities will take them up.”
Asked whether he stayed away from the office, Emilola-Gazal said, “It is a sponsored move, yes, I stayed away from office, we shall come out as appropriate at the right time and give account.
