By Ayodele Oni
Ekiti State Government has condemned a Traditional Ruler in the State for withholding the monthly stipends of some Traditional Chiefs perceived to be disloyal to him for four years.
The Deputy Governor, Mrs Monisade Afuye, has, therefore, directed the Alawo of Awo, Oba Abdulazeez Olaleye to immediately look for money and pay the affected chiefs.
The affected chiefs are said to be against Oba Olaleye’s enthronement as Alawe, and even went to Court to challenge his emergence.
The Deputy Governor condemned the act, and ordered 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 these victims for opposing Alawo’s selection and enthronement, despite the release of the money by local council.
Mrs 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.
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 the monarch 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 Olaleye, 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 also directed the aggrieved chiefs to release available documents relating to the town’s accounts and minute books to Oba Olaleye, 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.”
Earlier in his defence, Oba Olaleye, 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.”
