As some group of Ogun East APC leaders rally behind Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun for the 2027 senatorial ticket; complete with nomination forms already secured and endorsements flowing, residents of the district are quietly asking a pointed question rooted in lived experience: Can a leader who faced explosive 2023 accusations of interfering with funds meant for the very local governments he would represent truly speak for Ogun East in the Red Chamber?
The allegations, first aired publicly in August 2023 by then-Ijebu East Local Government Chairman Hon. Wale Adedayo, centred on claims that statutory federal allocations to the state’s 20 LGAs had effectively been zeroed out for nearly two years, alongside the non-release of a N10.8 billion federal subsidy-related palliative fund.
Adedayo, whose Ijebu East LGA sits squarely in Ogun East Senatorial District, described a situation where “not a dime” of federal allocations reached council accounts since he and fellow chairmen took office.
He also referenced constitutionally mandated 10% of the state’s internally generated revenue that, he said, had not flowed to the LGAs.
In a letter that quickly went viral, Adedayo detailed four tranches of the federal Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) funds; N2.5 billion, N2.6 billion, N2.8 billion, and N2.9 billion, sent to Ogun State under the previous administration.
“Not a dime of these funds was released to any local government,” he wrote, arguing the shortfall explained why many councils had little to show for basic infrastructure like rural roads, water schemes, health centres, and primary schools.
For Ijebu East communities in particular, he painted a picture of residents still fetching stream water in 2023 and pleading for interior roads that never materialised.
The Defence: Augmentation, Not Diversion
Governor Abiodun’s administration pushed back firmly. In statements at the time, the governor insisted he had “never tampered with local government funds.”
Instead, his team argued, the state had been actively ‘augmenting’ federal allocations through the constitutionally recognised Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC).
This body; comprising all 20 LG chairmen, traditional rulers, civil service representatives, and other stakeholders, meets monthly to disburse funds, with priority often given to first-line charges such as teacher salaries and pensions.
Abiodun’s office cited specific 2023 distributions: for instance, between May and August of that year, billions were shared among the LGAs for salaries and obligations, with the state stepping in to cover shortfalls.
Nineteen other LG chairmen, along with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) Ogun chapter, publicly apologised to the governor, describing Adedayo’s zero-allocation claim as inaccurate and pledging loyalty.
JAAC members later told the Ogun State House of Assembly that no funds were missing and that the joint mechanism ensured transparency.
Repercussions and a Court’s Intervention
What followed the allegations, however, left many in Ogun East uneasy.
Within days, Adedayo’s own legislative council suspended him for three months on grounds of alleged maladministration and financial recklessness (15 counts in total).
By mid-September 2023, he was impeached. He was also detained by the Department of State Services and later arraigned by police.
Fast-forward to December 2025: the Ogun State High Court in Ijebu-Ode delivered a significant ruling.
Justice Catherine Ogunsanya nullified both the suspension and impeachment, declaring them unlawful and procedurally flawed.
The council had failed to provide Adedayo with proper notice of the allegations or evidence of any petition against him, violating Section 37 of the Ogun State Local Government Law.
The court awarded him N30 million in general damages. While reinstatement was denied; his elected term having expired, the judgment effectively vindicated Adedayo on the process that removed him.
Claims directly linking the governor to the council’s actions were, however, dismissed for lack of established connection.
Transparency, Trust, and the Senate Question
In the court of public opinion across Ogun East; spanning Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu North, Remo, and beyond, the episode has lingered not because every allegation was proven in a courtroom, but because granular, line-by-line public records accounting for the specific N10.8 billion palliative tranches have never been tabled for independent scrutiny.
The JAAC explanation is procedural and constitutional; yet for ordinary residents who see potholed feeder roads and under-equipped health posts year after year, the debate feels academic when local councils appear starved of direct, traceable resources.
Critics within the district argue this pattern; alleged opacity followed by swift institutional pushback against the lone voice who spoke out, raises legitimate concerns about accountability.
A senator from Ogun East is expected to fight in Abuja for federal interventions, constituency projects, and fair resource allocation. How effectively can that advocacy land if questions about how state-level funds were handled for the same communities remain unresolved in the public mind?
Supporters of the governor rightly point to visible state-level projects and argue that joint funding mechanisms prevent waste while meeting obligations. They note that many LG chairmen themselves affirmed the system works.
Yet the optics of a court later ruling the whistleblower’s removal unlawful have kept the conversation alive among voters who remember Adedayo’s original plea: that properly funded local governments could have delivered more tangible development and even helped the ruling party at the polls.
As the 2027 senatorial race gathers momentum, Ogun East stakeholders; market women in Ijebu-Ode, farmers in the interior, youth seeking skills centres, are weighing more than party loyalty.
They are asking whether their prospective senator enters the National Assembly with a clean slate of openness on grassroots finances or with the shadow of 2023’s unanswered questions.
In a democracy, allegations alone do not convict; but when they come from within the very district being represented, trigger institutional consequences later partly reversed by the judiciary, and leave basic service gaps unaddressed, they demand something simpler: full, accessible records and a demonstrated willingness to let sunlight disinfect the process.
The people of Ogun East have long memories and high expectations.
Before any coronation as the APC flagbearer, the N10.8 billion story; and the human cost it symbolised for local governance, deserves the one thing every voter is owed: unvarnished clarity.
Without it, the path to the Senate risks looking less like service and more like an extension of unresolved local grievances.
Ogun East deserves a representative whose record invites confidence, not quiet doubt.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
