Following the stoppage of the monthly salaries payable to a section of traditional chiefs in Awo -Ekiti due to obaship tussle, the Ekiti State Government, has condemned the act, ordering those perpetrating the act to effect immediate payment to restore unity and peace.
The State Government described as wrong and undemocratic, the way some chiefs loyal to Alawo of Awo- Ekiti, Oba Abdulazees Olaleye, had stopped the salaries of 2015 -2019 to the victims for opposing Alawo’s selection and enthronement, despite the release of the money by authority.
The Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, expressed government’s position, on Friday, while intervening in the petition written by some Awo-Ekiti chiefs over the stoppage of their monthly salaries.
Present at the parley are the Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Home Affairs, Hon Ojo Atibioke, Permanent Secretary, office of the Deputy Governor, Mr Abayomi Opeyemi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, Mrs Olabisi Akindele, and the representatives of the two feuding parties.
The peace parley was convened by the Deputy Governor to resolve the accusation raised by some kingmakers in the town that their salaries were stopped for a period spanning four years on the order of Alawo due to their opposition to his ascendancy.
In her position, Mrs Afuye disagreed with the defence put up by Oba Abdulazees that the fund was withheld because the chiefs allegedly abdicated their duties, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove the allegation or showed that they were under suspension to warrant such deprivation.
The Deputy Governor, also said the claim that the money was used to prosecute a litigation filed against the Kingmakers over the selection of Oba Abdulazees, was tantamount to misappropriation and diversion of funds, since the fund was specially released for payment of salaries.
“Government operates with laws and guidelines and these must be strictly followed. The statutory monthly fund being released by the Local Government to traditional rulers was for their upkeep and it is strictly for that purpose.
“So, you couldn’t have used it for any other purpose without the consent of the petitioners. If they pursue this case against you in court, you will all be charged for fraud.
“The arrangement to use the money for litigation was wrong. If you wanted to do that, you should have carried them along. You shouldn’t have spent the money without putting the concerned chiefs into confidence.
“I want you to go and resolve within yourselves how the money will be paid, because it is their entitlements and you have no power to deprive them.
“When you spent government’s money wrongly, it is called misappropriation or diversion. I expected you to have spent the money on what it was meant for, which was to pay the salaries of the chiefs, whether they are with the king or not.
“It could have been a different game now if you showed enough evidence that they were suspended within that period”.
Meanwhile, Mrs Afuye has directed the petitioners to release all available documents relating to the town’s accounts and minute books to Oba Abdulazees, saying inaccessibility to those documents prompted resort to diversion of salaries to fund litigation.
“The accounts of the town must be returned to the monarch because he is still in charge pending the determination of the case at the Supreme Court. The petitioners must do proper handing over of all accounts to the monarch to avert crisis.
“Kabiyesi should go and summon a peace meeting. He shouldn’t allow division. We thank God that the money between 2019 and now is in the custody of the Local Government. Coming together is the only way your town can have development”.
Also lending his voice to the matter, the Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Home Affairs, Chief Atibioke, appealed to the aggrieved parties to maintain peace and work hard to sustain the unity of the town.
Earlier, in his defence of the actions taken by the chiefs loyal to him, Oba Abdulazees, disclosed that none of the chiefs took salaries within that period under contention, revealing that they unanimously agreed to use the fund to prosecute their case in court.
“In the case filed against the kingmakers, those opposed to my enthronement were also joined as defendants that was the reason for the decision by the chiefs to use their salaries to defend everybody, so that they won’t go to jail. It wasn’t a case of embezzlement”.
