THE People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and immediate past chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, in Ondo State, yesterday, traded tackles over the allegation that former council chairmen were still drawing salaries from the state treasury, three years after leaving office. While the PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Kennedy Peretei, attributed the fraud to “the multidimensional consequences of the absence of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State on his duty post, due to ill-health”, the former ALGON chairman in the state, Augustine Oloruntogbe, said the allegations are mind-boggling and unimaginable.
Peretei, in a statement, said: “The local government chairmen, whose three-year tenure ended since August this year, are still drawing salaries from the state treasury.
“The ugly development is simply because no new political helmsmen have been appointed by the Governor who has been battling with his health and there is no agreement between warring factions of the government as to how to fill these sensitive vacancies.
“The former council bosses refused to hand over their official vehicles despite the dissolution of the Councils by Lucky Aiyedatiwa during his tenure as acting Governor.
“The impunity orchestrated by Akeredolu and his collaborators on the people of Ondo State is unprecedented.
“The PDP in Ondo State once again reiterates that the plan of Akeredolu’s handlers to profit from this sorry state of affairs and completely run the state aground will be resisted by all lawful means.”
Allegations unimaginable, fabricated—LG chairmen
Responding to the alleged fraud, Oloruntogbe, a former chairman of Akoko South West Local Government Area of the state, said: “The PDP in Ondo State has been spreading falsehoods against us, that we, the former chairmen, are still collecting salaries from our various local governments.
