A former member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Muhideen Olagunju, has applauded the Chairman of Oyo East Local Government, Peter Oluokun, for exposing what he described as Governor Seyi Makinde’s failure to release statutory allocations to local government councils.
Olagunju, who represented Oyo East/Oyo West in the Assembly, made his position known in a statement shared with OYOINSIGHT.COM, where he expressed shock at the volume of federal allocations allegedly withheld from local governments in the state.
“You will be amazed about the volume of funds allocated by the Federal Government to Oyo East LG in the last six years,” he wrote. “I commend the Chairman of Oyo East LGA for having the courage to expose the non-release of statutory allocations to local government councils by the Governor of Oyo State.”
The former lawmaker accused Governor Makinde of undermining local government autonomy and stifling grassroots development by starving councils of vital funds.
“Our governor is not only averse to local government autonomy, he also starves the councils of funds needed for development,” he stated.
Olagunju further expressed confidence in the Federal Government’s fiscal support for local governments, but stressed that the impact can only be meaningful if state governors complement those efforts.
Lamenting what he called the ‘governor-emperor’ mentality in Nigeria’s states, Olagunju said: “The governor-emperors in our states are our greatest enemies. There may be consequences for the Chairman that wrote appeal letters for funds, but he is being financially starved! That should be the main gist of any discussion on the matter.”
