Former Chairmen of Local Government in Ondo State and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) differed sharply over the allegation that the former officials were collecting salaries three months after leaving office.
The Local Government officials under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) threatened a lawsuit against the opposition party for defamation of character.
The PDP through its Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei had alleged that the LG Chairmen were still collecting salaries after their three-year tenure had lapsed on August 30.
Peretei in a statement said “Local Government Chairmen whose three-year tenure ended in 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.”
But the ALGON through its Chairman, Hon Augustine Oloruntogbe, and Secretary, Prince Kayode Aroloye described the allegation as falsehood from the pit of hell from the opposition party.
Oloruntogbe who was the immediate past Chairman of Akoko South West said the PDP has been spreading falsehoods against the chairmen about collecting salary after the end of their tenure.
He said, “We are here to deny the allegation vehemently and to tell the whole world that it is a lie from the pit of hell. Since we left the local government, we have never received a dime from our local government.
“Even when I was appointed as one of the panel members to chair the palliative, I had to send a representative since I was no longer in the local government.
“We have not had any financial relationships with our local governments since we left. We left on August 30, 2023.”
Aroloye who was the Chairman of Idanre Local Government denied the allegation and threatened to drag the PDP and its spokesman to court for defamation of character.
His words “We have not been collecting salaries. We are therefore instructing that the allegation by the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Ondo State, Kennedy Peretei, should be immediately withdrawn and an apology given within the next 24 hours; otherwise he will hear from our lawyers.
“We are men and women of integrity. Some of us built our names over the years before we entered politics. We will not allow our names to be rubbed in the mud under the guise of playing politics. We won’t accept this. If they have been doing it, we won’t allow this to go unchallenged.”