N4m Allocation: Alleged reasons for suspension of Owo LG chairman revealed

The reason behind the suspension of the Chairman of Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, Tope Omolayo, by 11 Councillors of the council has emerged.

Multiple sources said Omolayo sin was his alleged whistle blowing affront on the Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa-led administration over the sharing formula of FAAC allocation, accruing to each of the local governments in the state.

The embattled council chairman was on Wednesday suspended by a two-thirds majority of the legislative council of the local government over alleged gross misconduct and financial impropriety.

A top government source said the suspended local government chairman was named as the one behind the alarm that Aiyedatiwa was stifling council chairmen of funds to effectively run their councils with the monthly release of N4 million allocation released rather than the N500 million allocation.

Recall that some local government chairmen had revealed that of the N500 million monthly allocation entitled to each council from FAAC, the state had been giving them only N4 million, stressing that the situation had enormously affected their performance.

They had claimed that despite the July 2024 ruling of the Supreme Court, which granted financial autonomy to local governments, Aiyedatiwa had continued to flout the order.

According to findings, a leaked WhatsApp message where Omolayo purportedly confirmed the action of the state government was said to have embarrassed and infuriated the Aiyedatiwa administration.

One of the sources who craved anonymity stated, “My brother, it is true. Omolayo was suspended due to his boldness to confirm the amount the local government chairman had been receiving in the state.

“Forget about all that the cCouncillors accused him of; he has actually been dealt with by the very person that gave him the ticket. You know that Oga didn’t give him the chairmanship ticket but a very, very powerful cabinet member handed him the ticket.