I once approached a former colleague who was Chairman of a local government in Lagos state, to explore the opportunity of a contract to augment my income. After troubling him severally on the phone, he gave me an appointment for us to meet. On the appointed day, my friend warmly welcomed me into his office and entertained me very well.

He then opened discussion on my request explaining to me how powerless he was on the issue of contracts. He told me projects and contracts are awarded centrally from Alausa, the seat of the state government. He lamented that local government funds (allocations) do not get down to the local governments. All that they have access to, are some internally generated revenues within the Councils which they use in running governance at the local level and occasionally give out petty contracts like cutting of bushes, maintaining some public primary schools and other public utilities.

I asked about tenement rates levies and radio and TV license fees. He said the state took away the tenement rates fees when it introduced the land use charge which is payable to the state government account. Perhaps, there could be some exceptions where projects which domicile in a local community are given to some highly connected individuals or royal fathers who may have shown interest. Truth is: The Local governments are completely subsumed into the states administration, contrary to what the constitution envisages. The system stifles initiatives and creativity and that explains the lull in development at the local government level.

My experience was over two decades ago, but I doubt if much has changed. As it is in Lagos, so it is across the country. That is partly why Governors prefer their hand-picked Caretaker Committees to run the local Councils and not the elected executives. If elections into the positions of Chairmen and Ward representatives were to be free and fair, there would be hope that the Councils could be weaned off the apron strings of the state governments. Whereas, the 1999 Constitution at Section 7(1) guarantees the existence of democratically elected local government councils and mandates the government of each state to comply with relevant statutes on structure, composition, finance, and function of such councils; those requirements are obeyed in breach. This is the crux of the matter between the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo and the Ogun state governor, Dapo Abiodun.

Mr. Wale Adedayo comes from a radical background. He has been an activist who loves identifying with the underdogs. He was once the Chairman of the Guardian chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists. He was an active member of the Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists. He was a publicist to Gani Adams as a factional leader of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC).

He was the Chief Press Secretary to Otunba Gbenga Daniel as Ogun state governor. They eventually fell out but was not professionally discredited for doing a good job while their relationship lasted. He surely knows his onions and rarely suffer fools gladly. As a local government chairman, he appeared to have been frustrated before putting pen to paper, to report Governor Dapo Abiodun’s handling of local government funds to Chief Olusegun Osoba, a leader of the APC and a former governor of the state. His intention could be one of several; it may have been to use it as a subtle tactic to put the governor in check. It may have been to trigger a crisis that would bail the local councils out of bondage. It is may have been that he sincerely wanted to get his local government allocations to serve his people and fulfil campaign promises. Whatever, his action is without doubt full of public spirit.

Wale Adedayo has never disguised his political philosophy of cultivating a large, almost cult-like following in his political base of Ijebu-Ife and its environs. It was therefore, commonplace to see him mingle with people in his locality in their natural environment, eating what they eat and drinking whatever they drink.

His letter to Chief Osoba was leaked and all hell left loose. The contents are well known but alleged that the Governor was hijacking allocations meant for the local governments and not allowing him to get to the local councils. He has belled the cat and woke a sleeping dog. Though what he said was not new but making it public in the manner has done was novel. He definitely stirred the hornet’s nest. The bees are all out to sting him on every part of his body – deploying state resources – money, security and possibly judiciary. But what he said, has resonated far and near. The war is on because he has decided to lock horns with the Governor. By reputation and antecedents, Wale Adedayo is no push over; he is a rugged and dogged fighter. He doesn’t give up easily unless an amicable settlement is reached.

His actions and the subsequent reactions or consequences meted out to him call for more public scrutiny especially into the relationship between the local governments and the states. Observing this unconstitutional act of the Governors in previous administration, Dr. Mrs Ngozi Iweala, as Finance Minister, having diagnosed the problem started publishing funds allocated to each of the 774 local governments and encouraged citizens to hold their local councils accountable. But that did not stop the governors from putting guns to the heads of the local council Chairman to sign off their Councils fund under the State and Local Government Joint Account Committee arrangement.

Though constitutionally created to ensure that the states monitor the disbursement of funds and ensure judicious use of them, it was never intended to hijack or arm-twist the local government councils into surrendering their legitimate allocations. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s action was insufficient to stop the states’ from committing that illegality. Meanwhile, the states governors have not allowed the proposed constitutional amendment to grant local governments financial autonomy by using their State Assemblies to block it. Governor Dapo Abiodun has, however, denied all the allegations levelled against him and further explained how he has been of assistance to his local councils. The matter has been referred to the EFCC and ICPC in a petition by the disgruntled Chairman.

President Buhari also picked the gauntlet against the state governors and in May 2020 signed an Executive Order granting financial autonomy to the judiciary, legislature, and local government councils but the states have have not allowed it to work and have evolved new strategies to circumvent it. In signing the order, the President described the governors’ act as “their maladministration of resources at the local government level”.

Buhari attributed the stunted development at the third tier of government to the governors’ questionable actions on LGA funds. Analysts opine that the way out is to have “proper devolution of powers through constitutional amendment to free the state assemblies and the local governments.” For now, they are being emasculated by the state governors.

While many of the local government Chairmen including his colleagues know that Wale Adedayo may be as it is; but they’re all goaded by a conspiracy of silence. People know the truth but are not bold enough not to say it or have been compromised into silence because of position; half bread is better than nothing. For throwing a powerful punch, the man is being put through the hoop. But the good news is that he has refused to draw in his horns. He has refused to recant but standing on his words, showing neither remorse nor regrets. He is determined to take no prisoners on this. This is highly commendable.