At the national and sub-national levels, the position of each political leader is like that of a bus driver transporting his people along the path of progress. The Nigerian Constitution says, “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” However, the people of Emure Local Government Area of Ekiti State might have boarded a one-chance bus, piloted by the Chairman, Mr. Tosin Adedayo aka WACCO. To the people, the (financial) security and welfare of the community is not the Chairman’s primary purpose, given the loss they sustained when he allegedly sold a community property for a song!
But the Emure Ekiti Progressive Association (EEPA), perhaps bearing Section 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] in mind, was quick to remind Adedayo of his mandate. In a letter dated August 2, 2024 through its lawyers, C. Olatunji and Associates, EEPA reminded him that, as the Local Government Chairman and the constituted authority of the council, he was expected to use his offices “to protect the general wellbeing of the sons and daughters of Emure Local Government.”
Trouble started when Emure Ekiti Good Governance Advocacy Group (EGGAG), in a letter, alerted the President of EEPA, Prince Ayogbade Ogunsina, on what it called “Recovery of Illegal Disposal of Emure Local Govt Property at Irewolede Estate, Ado-Ekiti.” In the petition signed by its Chairman, Mr. Ademola Abegunde, EGGAG said that the property, a four-bedroom duplex, “is a valuable asset of the Council acquired in 2008 by the then local government chairman, Hon. Peter Ogundoro, like other local governments did at that time for the benefits of their communities at a sum of N12.5m.”
The Group raised three key issues, among others, pertaining to the sale:
- The property was allegedly sold for political patronage “without proper authorization, transparency or due process” within two months of the inauguration of the Council Chairman.
- The sale represents a significant economic loss to Emure Local Government Council and, by extension, the Emure Ekiti community owing to deliberate under-valuation
- A call by the Group on the Emure Ekiti Progressive Association to “investigate the illegal sale and take appropriate steps to recover Emure Local Government property.”
Based on its “rude shock” at the sale of the “property which is the common heritage of the Emure people,” counsel to EEPA , Mr. Taiwo Olatunji, on August 2, 2024 wrote a cease and desist letter to the Council Chairman, warning that failure to halt the illegal sale would cause the Association to report the Chairman to “the relevant authorities and agencies of government for investigations and appropriate actions in addition to seeking redress in the law court.”
The Association simultaneously filed a ‘Notice of objection to the approval of change of ownership on BM3, Irewolede Estate, Ilawe Road, Ado Ekiti’ with the Ekiti State Housing Corporation. In it, EEPA claimed that the Emure community had “not authorized or consented to any purported sale of the said property by the Local Government Council to anyone at all.” The ‘pre-action notice’ stated that the Association was acting on behalf of the “entire sons and daughters of Emure kingdom and relevant stakeholders” notably the Elumo-in Council and the Emure Ekiti Traditional Council. EEPA urged the Corporation “to decline any application for the transfer of ownership of the said property” to avoid being dragged into an “avoidable litigation.”
In addition to these immediate steps, TheNEWS learnt the Association wrote to the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, reporting what the Chairman, Hon Adedayo, had done. EEPA said it was especially disturbed that Adedayo had sought to legitimize his unlawful conduct by claiming that Governor Oyebanji approved the sale of the property because it was dilapidated. The Association said it doubted the veracity of this claim because, given the Governor’s reputation for integrity and transparency, he could not have authorized the sale of a property that was bought for N12.8 million in 2008 for a mere N8.5 million in 2024. The Association charged the Governor to intervene by ordering the reversal of the sale to avoid his good name being dragged in the mud.
Notwithstanding the steps already taken, TheNEWS gathered that the Emure Ekiti Progressive Association went a step further by inviting the LG Chairman to an all-stakeholders meeting held online on Saturday, August 10, 2024 with a view to getting first-hand information on the alleged sale.
Sources close to the meeting said although Hon. Adedayo admitted that the property was sold for N8.5 million, he declined to disclose the name of the buyer. Multiple sources also confirmed that he told the meeting that the valuation of the property was conducted by a professional estate valuer whose name he also did not disclose, though he said he would forward his telephone number to the Association. As of the time of writing this report, he had reportedly not forwarded the number.
Investigations by this magazine, however, revealed that despite the cease-and-desist letter written by the Association, the unidentified buyer of the property is currently carrying out renovation work at the site.
Worried by the Chairman’s devil-may-care attitude, the Emure Ekiti Progressive Association chose not to leave its home flank open, the more so as it said in its letter to Governor Oyebanji that Hon. Adedayo “has continued to boast that no one can confront the buyer being the Governor’s brother” and plans “to implicate and arrest anyone who dares to challenge him on the sale.”
On August 12, 2024, EEPA fired another letter through its lawyers to the Chairman, entitled “Application for Information/Records/Documents under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011” asking for details of the transaction for the public interest and justice. In it, the Association formally applied for copies of: “Valuation Report, Tender, Newspaper Advert, Deed of Assignment, Approval for Sales, F&GPC Minutes and Resolution and every other document connected to and in respect of the Sales of the Emure Local Government’s Four (4) bedroom duplex Building particularly described as BM3, Irewolede Estate, Ilawe road, Ado Ekiti.” Whether the Chairman would comply with the legal request remains to be seen.
When TheNEWS called Hon. Adedayo on Wednesday, August 14, 2024 for his side of the story, he responded that he could not speak because he was at a funeral at Ado Ekiti. “Please call me on Thursday by 11.am.” When the magazine called him as he had requested, he said:
“The property belongs to Emure Local Government. I knew about it when one of my friends, Ademuyiwa Abegunde, was Caretaker Chairman the time Dr Kayode Fayemi was Governor (first term). The Caretaker Chairman and I visited the house; it was empty. He was appointed in 2010; we went there together in 2011. The roof, that time, was already blown off. In 2012, there was another Caretaker Chairman. I was a Supervisor and O. Gbolahan was Supervisor for Works. That time again, the condition of the house had gone worse. In 2013, the roof was completely blown off. In 2013/2014, Chief Ayodele Fayose was Governor.
Last year, 2023, there was a letter from the Housing Corporation of Ekiti State which stated the series of meetings they held with the local government. The Corporation said the house in question was a security threat, given the bushy environment and its dilapidated nature. It gave Emure Local Government 90 days to dispose it off.
The then Chairman discussed the matter at the Exco meeting and F&G (which had representative from the Ministry of Local Governments in Ado Ekiti). It was there I was chosen as the chairman of the committee to look for buyers. I took somebody there. They said I took my political leader there. That was last year. We took photos.
In October last year, I resigned to contest. This year while I was in the office, I realized that Ministry of Housing wrote another letter on the same subject. I went to the Kabiyesi, the Elemure who said if I wanted to sell, it had to follow due process. We went to Council, we brought procurement. They looked for the valuer, advertised it and the house was sold for N8.5 million. We paid the money into the IGR account of Emure Local Government. After that, we bought a house in Emure for the Local Government, that had four bedrooms in front, two bedrooms at the back and self-contain. The house has a fence. It was after the transaction that many people started attacking me in the media, without asking for my own side of the story the way you did.
There was a paper dated 2022 detailing all movable and immovable properties of the Local Government. It was given to an estate surveyor, Oladeinde and Co, at 72 Ajilosun St, Opposite Elephant Cement, Ado Ekiti. The property in question was number 9 on the list and the amount it was bought for the local government was written as N12.3 million. On the allegation that I claimed that the Governor authorized me. That is not true. I did not say that. What I said that in the sale of the property, due process was followed.
The Association’s President, Prince Ayogbade Ogunsina, told TheNEWS: “I still believe we can achieve an amicable resolution of this matter in the long run,” adding, “The process is only a little constrained by need to fill the leadership vacuum created by the recent demise of our revered Kabiyesi, HRM Oba Emmanuel Adebayo, but we shall see the matter to its logical end for the sake of our common heritage in Emure Ekiti.”
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See all relevant letters quoted below:
