Mr Tajudeen Ajide, the chairman of. Surulere local government is in a quandary. And his position is at stake.
Councillors working with him have levelled grave allegations premise on
high level of incompetence, monumental graft, callousness, and total
disregard for all democratic principles against him.
And from the look of things, the evidence is such that Ajide faces moves
by the Lagos state house of assemble to commence suspension proceeding
against him.
Here is a detail report of the unfolding happenstance.
' 'Nine Councillors in Surulere Local Government, Lagos State, have
petitioned the Lagos State House of Assembly over alleged financial
impropriety of Tajudeen Ajide, the council boss.
In a petition to the Lagos State lawmakers dated 14 March, 2013, the
Councillors accused Mr. Ajide of monumental graft and a “high level of
incompetence, callousness, and total disregard for all democratic
principles.”
The Councillors also accused the council boss of abuse of office by
seeking to witch-hunt them for performing their statutory oversight
duties.
The petition, which was forwarded to the Lagos State House of Assembly
by Oluwasegun Ijitola, the Council Leader, and co-signed by all nine
Councillors; sought the suspension of the council boss.
'Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to reach Mr. Ajide were unsuccessful.
Repeated visits to the council secretariat in Surulere yielded no result as Mr. Ajide was said to be “not in the office.”
Also, calls to his two phone lines did not go through.
Allegations of graft
In a move reminiscent of the impeachment of Ayodele Adewale, the
Chairman of Amuwo Odofin local council, the Councillors say the council
boss has failed to carry them along in the governance of the local
government.
'Mr. Adewale was impeached by his Councillors, in 2010, on allegations
of maladministration and misconduct, but was controversially reinstated
on the orders of the state House of Assembly.
Due to Mr. Ajide’s failure to address several complaints by the
legislative arm of the council bordering on corruption and abuse of
office, the Legislative Council of Surulere Local Government at its
sitting of Thursday, March 14, 2013, resolved to commence suspension
proceedings against him.
'Some of the allegations include misappropriation of public funds and
contravention of the Public Finance Management Law of Lagos State and
aiding and abetting through criminal conspiracy by awarding contracts to
his allies and cronies through which Local Government funds were
siphoned.
According to the Legislative Council committee’s findings, Mr. Ajide
awarded a digital LED screen contract to Dexter Forte Ltd, owned by one
Ayo Odemilua, at N41 million.
Although N19 million advance payment had been made since March 2012, the
contract is yet to be executed and the mobilisation fee yet to be
refunded.
“The same Mr. Ayo Odemilua is allegedly on the pay roll of the Local
government as a member of the Local Government Revenue Committee being
paid with Tax Payers Money,” the committee added.
Mr. Ajide was also accused of collecting various sums of money both in
naira and foreign currencies in form of salaries and purchase of
official cars for office of the wife of chairman which does not exist.
'The chairman was also accused obtaining bank loans and overdrafts at
various times between October 2012 and February 2013 without the
knowledge and approval of the Legislative council, in contravention of
the Lagos State Public Finance Management Law 2011, Section 65(i).
He was further accused of violating the Law of Lagos State Public
Finance Management law 2011, section 57(2) by appointing a politician as
the Chairman of the Revenue Committee of the Local Government.
“Award of over-inflated and questionable contracts. According to one of
the Contractors (TEN KINGS LTD), who confessed that the Executive
Chairman collected the sum of N3,000,000 from him to influence the award
of contract approval from the Ministry of Local Government. Purchase of
a N17m vehicle for the office of the Chairman without delivery of same
to the Council,” the committee stated.
Vote of no confidence
The Councillors also accused Mr. Ajide of failing to have parliamentary
meetings with them, as stipulated in the Administrative Guideline of
Lagos State for Local Governments.
Their petition further alleged that 18 months into his tenure as council
Chairman, Mr. Ajide had only had two parliamentary meetings with them
which lasted for one hour.
“Despite continuous bookings of appointment for Parliamentary meetings
with the Chairman by the Leader of The House on monthly basis both
verbally and written, no response from the Executive Chairman till date.
“Councillors at various times went to their various wards to take
inventories of the local government projects in all of the nine wards.
Only two can boast of the local government projects which includes
street lights and patch of less than 100 meters road leading into the
local government. It is interesting to note that despite all the
payments made to the contractors for the provision of street lights, out
of the various street lights only one is functional as at today which
is as Ward G2,” the lawmakers said.
The Councillors further accused the council boss of conniving with some
members of the Revenue Committee to collect N50,000, N30,000, and
N20,000 weekly from agents of commercial motorcyclists, tricycle riders,
and bus drivers in the name of security fee, despite collecting N1
million as security vote monthly.
“In addition to this, petitions written against the Revenue Committee
was investigated and members made confessional statement on the floor of
the house that it is true they collect such money from the Revenue
Agents which is not in line with the Existing Bye Laws of the Local
Government.
“Documents was requested by the Legislative council to ascertain the
level of fraud rocking in the Revenue Committee of the Local Government
by the existing by the Chairman and Revenue and Revenue Committee on 3
occasions and nothing has been presented till date. Instead the
Executive Chairman shield them because they are his fronts through which
he siphoned Tax payers Money” the councillors said.
For their tenacity in demanding probity from Mr. Ajide, the Councillors said that they were served a fake Writ of Summons.
Based on Legislative Council committee’s findings and following its
resolution, dated 19 November, 2012, a vote of no confidence was passed
on the Chairman.
'The Councillors subsequently sought the approval of the House of
Assembly to suspend Mr. Ajide and urged the House to investigate the
allegations in order to save the council people from his “squander
mania” as well as to redeem the image of the All Progressives Congress,
APC.
Following the Councillors’ petition, the Civil Society Network Against
Corruption, CSNAC, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, to investigate allegations against Mr. Ajide.
CSNAC, a coalition of over 150 anti-corruption organisations aiming to
combat corruption, urged the Commission to prosecute the council
Chairman.
“In view of various newspaper reports and documentary evidence at the
disposal of our Network, we wish to call for an immediate investigation
into the records and activities of Surulere Local Government in Lagos
State,” said Olanrewaju Suraj, CSNAC’s Chairman.
Although the Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly had summoned Mr.
Ajide based on the petition, the council boss has continued to
corruptly enrich himself and his cronies, CSNAC stated.
“Following above listed allegations against Mr. Ajide and failure of the
Lagos State House of Assembly to discharge its constitutional duties on
this matter, we here demanding an urgent investigation and necessary
action of your Commission on this matter,” Mr. Suraj added'
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