Ogun State House of Assembly (OGHA) yesterday commenced a full-scale probe into allegations of illegal sales and leases of properties in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state by the immediate past administration of the Council’s chairman, Hon. Sikiru Adesina.
The probe was a sequel to a petition forwarded to the Assembly by concerned citizens in the council areas who accused the immediate former Chairman of the Council, Adesina, of engaging in unlawful sales of government land and property of the council, as well as failed accountability among others in the Ewekoro Local Government council area during the period he held sway as the Council’s boss.
At the sitting of the Assembly’s Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-corruption held yesterday at the Assembly’s complex in Oke Mosan, the committee chairman grilled the Head of the Local Government Area (HOLGA), Mrs. Kemi Ogunyewo, for close to two hours about the shady deals and failing to follow due process in the sales and lease of an unspecified number of acres of land at Ewekoro LGA.
However, in her response, Ogunyewo, who led four other career officers to the committee’s sitting, denied outright sales of the property, maintaining that the affected property was only leased to companies and some individuals for 99 years.
LEADERSHIP, however, gathered that the beneficiaries of the properties in question were all companies and politicians in the local government who signed to pay a paltry sum of N10 000 per annum on each acre for a period of 99 years.
Notwithstanding her defence, the House Committee, chaired by Hon. Bello Oluwadamilare, has, however, directed the HOLGA, Ogunyewo and the four others to provide the Assembly with details of the list of the entire land that belongs to the Local Government with projects executed since 2021 till 2024 and the total cost for each of the projects, either sold or leased out.
This is just as the committee also demanded that the Council’s Engineer forward details of the inspection reports on the land it had leased.
The committee also demanded that the Council’s Treasurer provide it with copies of correspondence with banks regarding their several inactive bank accounts.
While adjourning until next Tuesday, the committee, however, directed the immediate past chairman of the council, Hon. Adesina, to appear before it and answer questions regarding his role in the illegal sales and lease of the affected property.
