An Akure-based lawyer, Femi Emodamori, has urged the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, and the Commissioner for Finance in the state to resign over the purported over-bloated 2025 budget.

Emodamori stressed that the duo ought not to wait for the investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before taking the necessary action.

The human rights lawyer, who described the huge amount as tactless, particularly the N11.5 billion budgeted for the Ministry of Finance as a security vote and the over N200 million phone call charges, stated that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s approval of such raises concerns.

While frowning at the fact that the budget was not published on the state government’s website for public consumption, Emodamori stated that the residents of the state should be aware of the fiscal policy.

He said, “We have 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. So, we have 1,440 minutes in a day (60 x 24) and 525,600 minutes in a year (1440 x 365). Even with the recent approval for a 50% increase in call tariff from N11 to N16.5 per minute by the Federal Government, a non-stop telephone call for the entire 525,600 minutes in a year would cost only N8,672,400.

“The allegation that the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly claimed, inserted, and approved N200m as telephone call allowance for his office in the 2025 Ondo State Budget is, therefore, totally scandalous, senseless, tactless, and heartbreaking.

“Could this be part of a mutual arrangement by the executive and legislative arms of government in Ondo State to plunder the state, particularly in view of the allegation that the state’s Commissioner for Finance (just a commissioner) got approval for a strange, unprecedented, and illegal N11 billion as a ‘security vote’ in the same budget, under the watch of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa? Are these allegations mere political propaganda and smear campaigns?

“Unfortunately, unlike the normal practice in the days of late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, the current Ondo State 2025 Budget is not on the State Government’s official website for Nigerians to cross check the facts and figures.

“However, if these allegations are true, then I demand the immediate resignation of Mr. Speaker and the State Commissioner for Finance. They need not wait to be investigated by the EFCC.

“If, on the other hand, the allegations are false or inaccurate, there is a need for the Speaker and State Commissioner for Finance to immediately allay the fears and concerns of the people of Ondo and all well-meaning Nigerians by publishing the 2025 Budget of Ondo State as assented to by the Governor on the State Government’s website.”