The former chairmen of local government in Ogun state have called the ex-chairman of Ogun East Local Government, Mr Wale Adedayo a liar and manipulator who is on a mission to pull others down.
This was made known earlier today in Abeokuta Ogun State capital by the group chairman and also the former chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government, Alhaji Babatunde Emilola-Gazal.
Alhaji Emilola-Gazal explained that,”Sometimes in August 2023, most likely on Friday, 25th August, 2023, I, Alhaji Babatunde Emilola-Gazal, got a call from Mr Wale Adedayo.
Wale told me he had just returned from a trip to Abuja where he met some political dignitaries and that he had written a letter which he wanted to give to Chief Olusegun Osoba. He said he wanted to see me before delivering the letter. He didn’t show up.
On Sunday, 27th August, 2023, at 7.10pm, Wale Adedayo sent a letter to the WhatsApp group platform of Local Government Chairmen. The letter read:
Dear all.
I sent a letter to our leader, Chief Olusegun Osoba. The details are below. For those who might feel offended, e jebure o!
I just feel we owe it a responsibility to our constituents to do what we took an oath to do while in office. And without money, there is nothing anyone can do.
Members expressed shock that he wrote such a letter without the consent of the body. However, since he said he had sent it to Chief Osoba, he was told that the letter should not go beyond that.
Surprisingly, by the evening of Monday, 28th August, 2023, the letter had gone viral on all social and print media. We were shocked.
In the morning of Tuesday, 29th August, 2023, Wale called to inform me that the Secretary to the State Government called and asked him why he wrote such a letter and sent it out to the media. He said he told him that it was ALGON that mandated him to do it.
I also asked him why he did it, especially when the body had told him to cease further spread of the letter after sending it to Chief Osoba. He said it was a senior journalist colleague that spread it. He sought my support in case the State government enquires from me.
Few minutes after the call, I got a call from the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, asking if we, ALGON, asked Wale to write the letter. I answered in the affirmative.
I did this in the belief that, as the Chairman of Chairmen, I should protect him from the likely consequences of his action.
We were invited, through me, to a meeting with the state government, later in the afternoon of the same day. I called an emergency meeting of ALGON for Ake, Abeokuta South Local Government by 11.00am to discuss the burning issue before meeting the state government team.
At that meeting, 17 Council Chairmen were present.
Once again, I asked Wale why he took that action, especially going to the press, when he had been told to desist from further spread of the letter. He told us that it was a senior journalist who spread it and not him. We also asked him why he wrote the EFCC. He said said when Chief Osoba did not respond, he was advised to write the EFCC.
I told him that there are allegations that he is being sponsored and that I have warned him against any confrontation with the governor for the past 6 months. He said I had prevented him for one year, not 6 months, from doing what he wished to do. We told him outrightly that his actions were wrong. Nonetheless, I suggested that we rally round him. There were few dissenting voices who felt he should be left to face the consequences alone.
The meeting at Ake was to salvage the situation and not leave him alone in that period of trouble, it was not to ratify what he wrote. There was never a meeting where he was asked to write anything. Wale acted alone. “
He also added that,” At the meeting with the State government team at Osoba Press Centre, Okemosan, it was agreed that we plead with the Governor, especially on Wale’s behalf, hence our going to beg his Excellency to forgive and let go.
The governor accepted the plea and promised that he would ensure that the Local Governments are supported to ensure that we overcome the paucity of funds and deliver as expected by our constituents.
Wale Adedayo fully partook in all the deliberations and also prostrated to ask the governor for forgiveness.
After the group plea, I personally took him back to the governor and he prostrated, once again. About 5 of us joined him in begging the governor.
We had an understanding with the Secretary to the State Government that, henceforth, there woukdl be no more media coverage of the issues until it is resolved internally. We were to reconvene in his office the following day, Wednesday, 29th August, 2023.
Surprisingly, we woke up to read Wale Adedayo’s interview wherein he cast aspersions on all of us, denying that he was part of the meeting the previous day and didnt prostrate to beg the governor.
At the meeting in the office of the SSG, 19 of us, including Wale, were present.
When he was asked why he went ahead to grant another interview, contrary to our resolution the previous day, he had no cogent reason. He was asked to give an ssurance that there would be no more media interviews on the issue until the issues were resolved. He told us that he could not give that assurance until after his meeting with a group of people.
At that point, it became clear to us all that Wale was not acting alone but in concert with some external forces. All pleas by all of us to make him back down fell on deaf ears.
All of us, except Wale, committed ourselves to internally resolving all matters arising from his letter.
The truth is that Wale acted alone and All efforts to make him allow for internal resolution of the crisis failed because he made it clear that he was acting in concert with external forces and wouldn’t do anything until he had a meeting with them.
It will be recalled that in the last one year, Wale Adedayo has given different versions of the episode.
In an interview, he said the letter was written by some people and he only signed. In another breadth, he said other people contributed to the write-up.
Wale is definitely acting a script and trying to pull down other people. He does not need to do this.”
The group beseeched the Ex-LG chairman
to desist from this line of action, do a soul search and come out clean.