[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he community of Emure Local Government Area (LGA) is in uproar as calls for accountability from the council’s chairman, Prince Tosin Adedayo, grow louder amidst accusations of the illegal sale of communal assets.

The controversy centres around the alleged underhanded sale of Emure House, a property located in Irewolede Estate, Ado Ekiti, which many believe was sold without due process and at a suspiciously low price.

Prince Adedayo, who has been under fire for weeks, attempted to quell the growing dissent by offering an explanation via a political WhatsApp group.

Are you from Ekiti Emure? Please, take a moment to sign this petition https://chng.it/ZHg8mncdsg

He claimed that the sale was necessary to avoid the revocation of the property by the Ekiti State Housing Corporation and that the proceeds were used to purchase another house in Emure.

However, this explanation has been met with skepticism, as many community members and advocacy groups continue to question the transparency and legality of the transaction.

He wrote:

I greet my good people of Emure on this platform.May peace of God continue to be with all of us. I want to sincerely apologize for my delay in responding to your agitations and concern for the sale of our property located at irewolede estate Ado Ekiti.
I also appreciate those who took time out to call and offered their words of advise. I thank all the elders and leaders in Emure for their fatherly intervention, especially the president of Emure Ekiti progressive ass,Prince Ayogbade Ogunsina and my own aburo,Mr Lanre Owoeye.
I want to use this medium to narrate the circumstances that lead to the sales of the property.
In 2020,during the adminstration of Otunba Paul Awopetu(docky),there was a circular from housing Corporation with the intention to revoke the property.(Attached here are evidences of my claims) The committee then engaged the services of estate valuers, Oladeinde olajide associates surveyors and valuers to determine the value of all local govt properties, irewolede house inclusive. This happened in May,2020 under Hon.Adu lead committee.
In sept of 2023,during adminstration of Hon.Adu Joseph,Ekiti housing Corporation wrote another letter to the local govt threatening to revoke the property and the chairman (Hon. Adu) set up a committee and I was the made the chairman by the virtue of my position as supervisor for works.
Our committee was given the sole mandate to sell the house in order to evade revocation.
Myself and other committee members took several people there.We didn’t get buyer until I resigned voluntarily from the adminstration in October 2023 to pursue my political ambition.
Even after resignation,the committee continue the assignment to logical conclusions.The committee recommended that the house should be sold.
All the evidences would be made available.
When I resumed office in January,2024 and I heard the housing Corporation have started revoking houses in irewolede Estate,about 7 houses were revoked already,I quickly called exco meeting to formalise the sales. We contacted the same estate valuers that was engaged in 2020 for the job.
We put notice of sales on the council notice board.About 5 people bided for it,and the person with the highest figure got it
There could be error in all of these,you will agree with me that to err is human but forgive is divine.
The proceeds of the house was used to purchase another house in Emure.
I am surprised to hear my people saying the house in irewolede is 80m and land is 35m.
Most of the local government have sold their own.
I want to appeal to my people on this platform not to see me as an enemy. I will always need your advise,guidance and support.
If you need any documents or information,please do not hesitate to call.
Once again I am sorry for all I made you go through.

God bless Emure Ule Ewa

Prince Tosin Adedayo
Executive Chairman
Emure local govt.
Emure Ekiti.

Not many were convinced about his submission as it was believed to be watery. A student member of the group raised critical points, demanding more clarity from the chairman. The student questioned whether the sale was truly the last resort and if other options had been exhausted to retain ownership of the property.

He wrote:

To my honorable chairman While I appreciate your explanation regarding the sale of the Irewolede property, there are still some critical points that need further clarification. The people of Emure deserve full transparency and accountability on this matter, and your message, while informative, leaves certain questions unanswered.

Firstly, you mention that the sale of the property was necessary to avoid revocation by the Ekiti State Housing Corporation. However, was the local government not given the option to rectify the situation and retain ownership of the property? Selling should have been the last resort, not the immediate solution. Did the committee exhaust all possible avenues before deciding to sell such a valuable asset?

Secondly, while you claim that the proceeds from the sale were used to purchase another property in Emure, there has been little to no information provided about this new property. The people deserve to know the details of this transaction—where exactly is this new property, what is its value compared to the Irewolede property, and how does this benefit the community as a whole?

Thirdly, you mention a bidding process, but the transparency of that process is still in question. Were all members of the public given a fair opportunity to participate in the bidding? Was the final sale price truly reflective of the property’s actual market value?

Finally, while you mention that many other local governments have sold their properties in the estate, this does not justify the sale of our own property. Each local government has different priorities and circumstances, and we need to focus on what is best for Emure and its people.

We understand that mistakes can be made, and we appreciate your apology. However, this issue is not just about human error; it’s about ensuring that decisions affecting the community’s assets are made with full transparency, fairness, and accountability. We urge you to provide more detailed evidence and information regarding this sale so that the people of Emure can feel confident that their interests are being truly represented.Thank you.

The situation escalated further when the President of the Emure Ekiti Progressive Association (EEPA), Prince Ayogbade Ogunsina, detailed his interactions with the chairman, revealing inconsistencies and a lack of cooperation from Prince Adedayo.

Despite multiple meetings and promises to provide more information, the chairman has yet to offer the transparency that the community demands.

In an attempt to resolve the matter, the EEPA has taken several steps, including issuing a pre-action notice to the Ekiti State Housing Corporation and a formal letter to the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji.

PURPORTED SALES OF EMURE LGA’S PROPERTY AT ADO-EKITI: WHAT NEXT TO BE DONE BY THE EMURE EKITI PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION (EEPA)
Good day, everyone. I am Prince Ayogbade Joseph Ogunsina, the current President of Emure Ekiti Progressive Association (EEPA). It is no news to everyone on this platform, the sales of Emure Ekiti LGA’s property at Irewolede Estate Ado-Ekiti. The only news that everyone is waiting for is how are we going to get back the property?

As we are all aware, the property was sold by the current administration of Honorable Prince Tosin Adedayo (aka Wako), the Executive Chairman of Emure LGA. The EEPA was petitioned by Emure Ekiti Advocacy Group about the sale of the property. Immediately, I received the petition on the night of Friday, August 2nd, 2024. I shared it with the Chairman and I called him after. He came and met me in a hotel at Ado-Ekiti on the evening of Saturday, 3rd August 2024. The major reason why I called him was to hear his own version of the story and possibly advise him as a brother and as the President of the Association the best way we could solve the issue. He came with One Mayowa Adedayo ( I think he is the President of the Student Union in Emure) who was with us and listened to all our discussions. I asked the Chairman what happened to our property at Irewolede Estate, Ado Ekiti? He responded by narrating how the LGA was written series of letters by the Ekiti State Housing Corporation that because of the condition of the building they would revoke the ‘C’ of ‘O’ if they fail to ‘take care’ of the building. He said he has the scanned copy of the last last letter written to the LGA in his phone. I requested if the Chairman could share the letter with me. He said he would not share the letter, but he volunteered to give his phone to Mayowa to read some portion of the letter to me. During our discussion that followed, he told me the following:
* The property was sold for 8.5 million naira. All efforts to know the person who bought the property proved abortive. He showed me the IGR receipt for the payment of the property from his phone.
* He said the LGA added 4 million naira to the proceeds to make up 12.5 million to buy another property, a 4 – bedroom bungalow at Emure. According to him, the house they bought at Emure belonged to Mr Yemi Fabayo. He tried to justify this by saying that they bought the house at Emure to serve as a staff quarter and for visitors who may visit the LGA.
* He said the process to sell the property started during the regime of Jossy Adu.
During our discussion, I asked him why the housing corporation should be threatening to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of the house we have fully paid for since 2008? I tried my best to advise him on what I felt would be a better way for him to correct the mistake. I said he should try as much as possible to talk to the buyer to return the property since he or she has not done anything on the property since it was bought. He raised the question of how would he get a refund for the buyer since he has used the proceeds to buy another house at Emure? I suggested that the EEPA would raise the money from the Association’s account. I told him that it might be a little bit difficult to prove that everything followed due process.

At the end of our meeting which lasted for more than 2 hours he insisted that all what he did followed due process, but that not withstanding he would contact the buyer to know whether he/she would agree to return the property. He promised to give me feedback the following morning of 4th August. On the morning of 4th August, I saw the Chairman at the front of the hotel in the company of some of his friends namely Olu Okeya, Afro, Olugeri and a cousin of mine, Mr Taye Adanikin. I asked the Chairman if he was able to speak with the buyer as he promised the previous night? He said no. That the buyer was dropping his calls. We discussed the issue briefly, and all of us agreed that he should talk to the buyer as the best solution. I left Ekiti on the 4th of August for Abuja. On getting to Abuja that same day, I called the Chairman to know if there was any favourable response from the buyer, to which he replied none.

Emure Ekiti Progressive Association is not a ‘one man’ show and for me not to be accused of doing things alone, I called and briefed some members of the Association and we agreed in the interim to do the following:
– A pre-action notice letter to be written by the Legal Adviser of the Association to the Ekiti State Housing Corporation to stop any transfer of ownership of the property because as at that time, change of ownership has not been done. I believe the situation is still the same.
– Another letter also to be written to the Chairman, Honorable Prince Tosin Adedayo to let him know that the Association is aware of all that happened in respect of the sales of the property and he should make sure that the property is returned. Our legal adviser served the 2 letters between 5th and 6th August 2024 to the affected person and agency. Surprisingly, the DPO Emure LGA and DSS person from Emure called me and said that they heard that the Youths were planning protests. I told them I knew nothing about that.

On the 6th of August, I called the Chairman again to know if there was any news from the buyer. He replied that the buyer said he was in Abuja and that they would be talking on Wednesday, 7th August, after the buyer might have returned from Abuja. I waited for the call of Chairman throughout the remaining days of the week, and there was no response.

I called for an emergency meeting of the executive of the Association on Saturday, 10th August 2024, during which we invited the Executive Chairman of Emure LGA. The meeting was an online one. Messers Kehinde Boluwade and Lanre Owoeye joined as observers. During the meeting, every member of the executive took turns to condemn the sales of the property and demanded that the property be returned. The Chairman insisted that what he did followed due process. He repeated all that he told me when I first met with him. Once again, he only mentioned the amount they sold the house and refused to mention the buyer. At the end, after a lot of persuasion, he agreed to request for the phone number of the buyer from the Estate Valuers who sold the property and that he would send it to me or Chief Ogundeji. Between 10th August and now, the Chairman has not sent any telephone numbers. In order to move further in our resolve to retrieve the property from the buyer, we instructed the Lagal Adviser to write another letter to the Chairman demanding every information concerning the sales of the property. We were relying on the freedom of information act.
We have also written another letter to the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO). The letter to the governor becomes necessary because we wanted to report everything to him officially. We believe that there was no way the Chairman would want to do something of such magnitude without the approval of Mr Governor. We copied the deputy governor and speaker of the house of assembly the letter to the governor.
In order to have an amicable solution to this issue, I have asked the following friends of the Chairman to speak to him: Kehinde Boluwade, Okila, Olu Okeya, Olugeri and Afro. I have equally contacted politicians like Febisola, the house of Assembly Woman, Alhaja Ogunlade, and our gentle Commissioner, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade. I spoke with elders such as Mrs FT Akinwale, Chief Dele Okeya, Chief Kayode Ogundeji, Rt. Hon. Kola Adefemi, Chief Damola Popoola and eminent chiefs from Emure-Ekiti.

My brothers and sisters, I took time to write and explain the above for all of us to be abreast with the steps we have taken in the Association. The question now is ‘WHAT NEXT TO BE DONE BY THE ASSOCIATION’

The Chairman is one of the illustrious sons of Emure Ekiti Kingdom, a Prince for that matter. Nobody is interested in his downfall. The Association is not interested in the downfall of anyone. The Chairman has committed fundamental mistakes. This ‘thing’ is my own is different from this ‘thing’ is our own. The property sold is our own. It is the common wealth of Emure Community, and everyone needs to be carried along. Now that he has done this, what will be the solution? I have read his response asking for forgiveness.

The EEPA does not exist in isolation. It is the creation of The Elemure in Council and the Emure Community. We were elected into the office by the representatives of the Emure community and with the approval of Elemure. I must confess that this is a testing period to be a member of the Executive of EEPA. God will see us through. Amen.

We started this agitation when there was a vacuum in the traditional setup of Emure-Ekiti. The Elemure, His Royal Majesty Oba Emmanuel Adebowale Adebayo, the Aminmin III passed-on on the 29th May 2024 and the State Government has just appointed the Regent for Emure Kingdom with effect from August 5th 2024 pending the selection of substantive King. The Regent is Princess Taiwo Oladimeji.

In view of the recent development in Emure-Ekiti Kingdom and the traditional set up, the Emure Ekiti progressive association has decided to report the Chairman to Elemure in Council in the ‘ibode’ (meeting of the King/Regent and all the Chiefs) of Thursday, August 29th, 2024. The Chairman, Honourable Prince Tosin Adedayo, is invited to meet us there with every information at his disposal. Whatever decision agreed at the meeting will be implemented by the Association.

Finally, I want to appeal to everyone that we should exercise patience and let us wait for the outcome of our meeting with the Regent and all the Chiefs. Please let us respect this. We should respect the traditional administrative setup. It is the Elemure in Council first, followed by the Association and the the individual in the community. Emure a gbe wa o. Amin.

However, in a sudden twist, Prince Adedayo has reportedly adopted a more combative stance, issuing a strongly worded letter through his solicitor and sighted by Freelanews, asserting his authority as the head of the local government council, rejecting any subservience to the EEPA or other associations and insisted that the sale is final.

RE: IN THE MATTER OF YOUR UNLAWFUL SALE OF EMURE LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AT IREWOLEDE ESTATE, ILAWE ROAD, ADO-EKITI

The above subject matter refers.

We act as the Solicitors to Emure Local Government Council hereinafter referred to as our Client, and we have the mandate of our client to respond to your letter dated 2nd August 2024 in the following manner:

1. Our Client is a legally constituted authority recognized under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as one of the tiers of government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a constituted authority, our Client is not subservient to the Emure-Ekiti Progressive Association or any other similar association.

2. Our Client has its own organogram and management, which takes decisions in the best interest of the entire citizens (sons and daughters) of Emure Local Government, and such decisions are not subject to further ratification or approval by the Emure-Ekiti Progressive Association. While the Emure-Ekiti Progressive Association can at best serve in an advisory role, it is not part of the constituted arm or organogram of the Emure Local Government.

3. Our Client has restrained from joining issues with your letter dated 2nd August 2024, but in the interest of fairness, inclusivity of sons and daughters of Emure-Ekiti in their local government council affairs, and for the sake of posterity, our Client would like to set the record straight.

4. Our Client states that Emure Local Government acquired a four-bedroom duplex situated at BM3, Irewolede Estate, Ilawe Road, Ado-Ekiti, sometime in 2008 from Ekiti State Housing Corporation. The said property was left in shambles and uninhabitable. Due to the unkempt state of the property, fire razed the property, destroyed the roof, and weakened the structure.

5. The administration of the current Chairman, Hon. Tosin Adedayo, came on board sometime in January 2024 and inherited the property as part of the assets of Emure Local Government Council. The current administration found out that Ekiti State Housing Corporation had written a letter to the Council to the effect that the property had constituted a nuisance within the Irewolede Housing Estate and was capable of compromising the security of the estate. The Housing Corporation further notified the Council of their intention to revoke the Deed of Sublease issued in respect of the property within 60 days if the Local Government Council could not put the property in a good and habitable state.

6. The matter was deliberated upon at the management meeting whether to forfeit the property to Ekiti State Housing Corporation, pull the property down and rebuild it, or dispose of it as it is. The management, in their wisdom, decided to dispose of the property since the Council could not afford the cost of rebuilding the property.

7. This same decision had earlier been taken by the previous administration, and the management, after a cursory look at the various options, unanimously decided that the property be sold so as to avoid revocation from Ekiti State Housing Corporation.

8. Our Client approached the concerned authorities at the State level and got the necessary approval to implement the decision of the management, which decision was taken in the overall best interest of the sons and daughters of Emure-Ekiti. Our Client ensured that relevant laws were complied with in the course of the sale while the proceeds were paid into the Council account.

9. Our Client wishes to state categorically that the sale cannot be repudiated nor canceled as the same is a valid sale that was done in the overall best interest of Emure-Ekiti. Some few persons cannot hide under the aegis of the Emure-Ekiti Progressive Association to thwart the plans of this current administration for the good people of Emure-Ekiti.

10. Our Client states that the Emure Local Government Council, under the leadership of the current Chairman, is entrusted with the mandate to manage the affairs of the Council for the benefit of all and sundry and will not derail from this mandate nor tolerate any form of distractions.

11. While our Client appreciates the intervention of the Emure-Ekiti Progressive Association, our Client wishes to assure the Association that the decision to sell the property of the Council at Irewolede Housing Estate was taken after expert and professional advice and in the overall interest of the good people of Emure-Ekiti. Our Client therefore appeals to the Association to lend its full support to this administration in achieving success, while constructive criticism is welcomed. Our Client further promises to engage the Association on issues that bother on the welfare of the good people of Emure-Ekiti from time to time.

12. Our Client strongly believes that the demands of the Association do not in any way represent the wishes of the good people of Emure-Ekiti, and we humbly appeal that the Association should desist from pursuing the same.

13. For the avoidance of doubt and for the sake of repetition, the sale of Emure Local Government Council’s property at Irewolede Housing Estate was done in good faith and in the overall interest of the good people of Emure-Ekiti.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.