Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) and other Civil Society Organisations have petitioned the Ogun State House of Assembly demanding justice for embattled Wale Adedayo.
In the petition addressed to the Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, and signed by the leaders of the CSOs, under the auspices of Civil Society Coalition in Defence of Democracy Society, the group said that the prevailing situation in Ogun State cast it in bad light.
In the petition, the group said they were concerned that the situation in Ogun State, if allowed to degenerate, is capable of undermining democracy and public peace.
Therefore, they drew the attention of Ogun State House of Assembly to the ongoing cases of “political persecution against the former governor and serving Senator Otunba Gbenga Daniel as well as the immediate past Chairman of Ogun Ijebu East Local Government Area, Mr Wale Adedayo.”
“We wish to emphasise that political persecution of individuals has no place in democracy and should not be condoned under whatever guise.
“The prevailing situation cast the Gateway State in bad light and must therefore be addressed by OGHA in exercise of its powers under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
It referred to the Datkem Plaza, a property belonging to Olufunke, the wife of Gbenga Daniel, which it alleged was arbitrarily targeted for demolition by agents of the Ogun State Government, who were acting on the instruction of Governor Abiodun.
The group said it was it was worried by the continued harassment of Mr. Adedayo, whose impeachment as council chairman, it alleged, was orchestrated by Dapo Abiodun.
“We are disturbed that OGHA appears to have abdicated its oversight functions by failing to investigate the allegations made by Mr Wale Adedayo with respect to the diversion of public funds so as to ascertain the veracity of his claims as expected under a democratic setting.
“To this extent, we consider the harassment and persecution of Mr Wale Adedayo by Governor Dapo Abiodun as a flagrant abuse of power that ought not to be tolerated. We therefore condemn continued harassment of Mr Wale Adedayo whose allegations of financial impropriety against Governor Dapo Abiodun is neither yet to be investigated nor adjudged to be fallacious.
“It reeks of abuse of power to ignore issues relating to financial impropriety by deploying intimidation and persecution by security agencies. We condemn any form of politically-motivated persecution, vindictiveness and executive lawlessness which undermine democracy and corrode the political space as presently being witnessed in Ogun State.”
